UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

>r. Ernest  Carroll  Moore 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 


Jmprimi  ®ote*t 

ANTHONY  J.  MAAS,  S.J., 

Provincial  Maryland-New  York  Province 


REMIGmS  LAFORT, 

Censor 

imprimatur 

*JOHN  CARDINAL  FARLEY, 

Archbishop  of  New  York 


June  18, 1914 


TEACHER 
AND    TEACHING 


BY 

RICHARD  H.   TIERNEY,   S.J. 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  30TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 
LONDON,  BOMBAY,  CALCUTTA  AND   MADRAS 

1914 


COPYRIGHT,     1914 
BY    LONGMANS,    GREEN,     AND    CO. 


1 

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Education 

Librarj 

I       -T;, 


T-vt 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  MY  MOTHEB 


19385,': 


PREFACE 

THIS  little  book  is  neither  an  erudite  nor 
an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  great  prob- 
lem of  education.  It  is  composed  of  a  se- 
ries of  simple  essays  written  in  moments 
stolen  from  serious  and  exacting  academic 
duties.  The  essays  originally  appeared  in 
the  columns  of  "America,"  and  are  now 
committed  to  a  more  permanent  form,  at 
the  request  of  many  who  found  them  help- 
ful. 

In  view  of  this  request,  the  papers  are 
left  unchanged  in  form  and  substance,  in 
the  hope  that  the  interest  which  they  orig- 
inally evoked  may  be  revived  at  a  second 
reading. 

The  author  is  aware  of  their  defects, 
but  he  trusts  that  they  may  continue  to 
suggest  some  thoughts  to  those  who  are 
engaged  in  the  great  work  of  Christian  ed- 
ucation. If  they  accomplish  this,  his  la- 


viii  PREFACE 

bor  will  not  have  been  without  fruit.    For 
the  rest,  he  can  say  with  the  poet : 

"What  is  writ  is  writ. 
Would  that  it  were  worthier.*' 

E.  H.  T. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  THE    TEACHER   AND    THE   TEACHER'S    CHIEF 

WORK 1 

II    TRUE  EDUCATION 12 

III  THE   IDEAL   TEACHER 27 

IV  METHODS  OF  TEACHING 38 

V  MENTAL  STIMULUS  IN  EDUCATION  ....     54 

VI  THE  METHOD  AND  FUNCTION  OF  RECITATION    68 

VII    DISCIPLINE 82 

VIII     CHARACTER 97 

IX    TRAINING  FOR  CHARACTER 106 

X    RELIGION   IN   EDUCATION 117 

XI  SOCIOLOGY  AND  CATHOLIC  EDUCATION     .     .130 

XII  THE  BOY  AND  THE  SECULAR  LIFE  ....   144 

XIII  THE  BOY  AND  THE  PRIESTHOOD     ....   155 

XIV  THE  BOY  AND  THE  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  .   168 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  TEACHER  AND  THE  TEACHER'S 
CHIEF  WORK 

THE  primary  aim  of  all  true  education 
is  the  formation  of  character.  The  ambi- 
tion of  every  true  teacher  is  to  accomplish 
this  aim.  He  longs  to  work  on  the  souls 
entrusted  to  his  charge,  in  a  way  that  will 
most  surely  effect  this  purpose.  The  sub- 
jects on  whom  he  works  are  the  young — 
creatures  of  the  moment — people  notori- 
ously inconsiderate  of  past  and  future. 
Like  butterflies  they  are  absorbed  in  the 
delights  of  the  present.  Their  souls  are 
cabined  and  confined  and  imprisoned  within 
narrow  limits.  Worst  of  all,  the  prison- 
house  is  so  comfortable  and  even  consoling 
that  the  youths  either  fail  to  realize  its 


£          TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

nature,  or  realizing  it,  are  disinclined  to 
rescue  the  prisoner,  hence  it  becomes  the 
teacher's  first  task  to  destroy  the  great 
gates,  or  at  least  throw  them  open,  so  that 
the  spirit  of  his  pupils  may  enter  upon  a 
larger  and  nobler  life.  There  is  but  one 
way  to  do  this  effectively,  to  wit,  by  bring- 
ing the  boy  to  realize  the  high  purpose  of 
life,  by  giving  him  a  view,  a  great,  wide 
view  of  the  end  of  existence  and  a  desire 
to  play  a  noble  part  in  the  world. 

For  a  soul  with  an  overmastering  de- 
sire for  a  higher  life  will  not  remain 
shackled.  It  will  live  life  in  all  its  fulness, 
anxious  to  make  the  best  of  its  powers. 
Nor  can  our  efforts  in  this  direction  begin 
too  early.  Time  lost  here  is  time  never 
regained.  No  boy  who  enters  our  schools 
is  too  young  to  be  brought  to  the  realiza- 
tion that  he  is  preparing  to  play  a  great 
part  in  the  drama  of  life.  This  should  be 
driven  home  to  him  with  all  possible  force 
in  the  very  beginning,  so  that  his  school 
days  may  be  an  inspiration  to  him,  for  the 
standard  which  he  is  expected  to  reach 
cannot  be  put  too  high. 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING          3 

He  has  a  work  to  do.  Its  merit  and 
force  for  good  will  depend  upon  the  per- 
fection of  his  character  and  this  is  limit- 
less. Moreover,  he  should  be  shown  that 
character  is  a  fabric  woven  from  his  per- 
sonal thoughts,  words  and  actions.  As 
they  are,  so  will  his  character  be.  Thus, 
he  will  come  to  know  that  his  every  aspira- 
tion is  of  importance;  that  every  act  of 
the  present  will  work  for  good  or  ill  in  the 
future.  Here  is  the  teacher's  first  task, — 
the  quickening  of  the  boy's  soul  by  a  noble 
ambition. 

In  the  Sistine  Chapel  there  is  a  great 
masterpiece  of  Michael  Angelo  illustrating 
Adam's  evolution  to  perfection.  Though 
the  picture  is  altogether  ideal,  yet  it  may 
be  interpreted  to  point  an  apposite  and 
practical  moral  lesson.  Adam  lies  upon 
the  ground  a  naked  clod,  dull  of  face,  slow 
of  comprehension,  low  of  aspiration,  an 
unlovely  creature.  Clouds  lower  upon 
him,  and  he  will  not  rise.  But  of  a  sud- 
den God's  arm  is  thrust  through  the  over- 
hanging mists.  The  fingers  of  the  divine 
hand  touch  the  tips  of  Adam's  fingers. 


4  TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

Forthwith  the  clouds  disappear,  the  sun 
shines  brightly,  and  the  man  of  earth  leaps 
erect,  face  uplifted,  eyes  flashing,  the  light 
of  heaven  on  his  brow.  The  touch  of  God 
has  transformed  him. 

Adam  is  the  boy,  the  teacher's  work  is 
like  unto  God's.  Adam  sits  before  us, 
naked  of  intellect,  dull  of  face,  slow  of 
comprehension,  low  of  aspiration;  and  we 
are  not  only  to  touch  him  into  a  new  life, 
but  to  lead  him  thereto,  to  train  him  into 
it.  But  how  I  What  are  to  be  our  instru- 
ments? These  are  of  two  kinds,  natural 
and  supernatural.  The  latter  have  been 
dwelt  upon  so  often  that  they  do  not  need 
special  discussion  here.  Hints  about  them 
will  be  thrown  out  from  time  to  time.  The 
former  call  for  attention. 

Life  is  the  great  educator.  Life,  not 
books,  should  be  a  boy's  study.  What  is 
it,  I  ask,  that  has  contributed  most  to  im- 
mortalize the  great  classic?  Surely  not 
the  name  of  the  author.  For  an  author 
shines  in  the  light  reflected  from  his  book. 
Not  mere  diction;  for  diction  alone  were 
as  sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbal. 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING          5 

What  then?  The  great  thoughts  and  no- 
ble deeds  that  seem  to  make  the  pages  pal- 
pitate. Life.  Homer's  is  Homer's  he- 
roes. The  Prometheus  of  .^Eschylus  is 
the  chained  hero  who  made  a  holocaust  of 
himself  for  his  fellow  men.  It  is  this  that 
flames  in  the  mind  long  after  the  music 
of  the  language  has  died  from  the  ear  and 
the  beauty  of  the  imagery  has  faded  from 
the  memory.  It  is  this  and  kindred  things 
that  call  to  the  best  that  is  in  man — edu- 
cate him.  From  such  will  our  pupils' draw 
inspiration  and  courage: — ability  to  con- 
ceive, strength  to  dare.  It  were  the  veriest 
folly,  then,  a  farce  ridiculous  beyond  de- 
scription, to  drawl  through  authors  of 
whatsoever  kind,  content  to  replace  a  mis- 
placed comma,  to  parse  a  word  now  and 
then,  to  illustrate  a  figure  and  trace  the 
course  of  a  river.  This  may  be  instruc- 
tion; it  is  not  education.  He  who  works 
so  has  missed  the  idea  of  a  sublime  voca- 
tion, and  his  pupils  lose  forever  a  great 
discipline  which  is  necessary  to  harmonize 
the  warring  elements  within.  They  will 
not  become  men  after  the  image  of  the 


6  TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

most  perfect  man.  While  under  such 
guidance,  their  college  or  school  life  will 
have  no  meaning  for  them.  It  will  be  a 
succession  of  incoherent  days,  leading  no- 
where; a  series  of  stupid,  meaningless 
tasks,  with  the  effect  of  quenching  the  tiny, 
flickering  soul-fire  which  may  have  been 
lighted  in  a  lower  class  or  school.  So  they 
will  lose  ambition  and  drift  from  us  be- 
cause of  our  neglect.  For  they  cannot  live 
on  husks.  They  are  not  of  a  species  lower 
than  ourselves.  They  are  as  ourselves: 
alive  with  a  like  life  every  instant :  in  pos- 
session of  a  soul  which  needs  training  every 
minute  of  our  all  too  short  class-term. 
Every  instant  the  lesson  must  be  given — 
high  thoughts,  lofty  aspirations,  candor, 
so  infrequent  in  these  unhappy  days,  rev- 
erence, purity,  unselfishness,  accuracy:  a 
labor,  surely,  for  a  lifetime. 

This  is  our  task.  God  pity  us  if  we  neg- 
lect it.  To  ruin  a  boy's  intellect  is  hideous : 
to  spoil  his  character,  tragic.  But  we  shall 
lose  no  opportunity  to  accomplish  our  pur- 
pose. In  literature,  for  example,  we  will 
not  aim  merely  at  words  and  phrases  and 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING          7 

figures.  We  shall  look  below  these  for  the 
chief  instrument  by  which  we  are  to  ac- 
complish the  end  in  view.  We  shall  have 
praise  for  all  that  is  noble,  scorn  for  all 
that  is  base.  The  Trojan  war  will  be  more 
than  a  succession  of  battles — it  will  be  a 
temporal  punishment  of  crime.  The  flight 
of  ^Eneas  from  the  burning  city  will  be  a 
heroic  example  of  love  and  reverence  to 
parents  and  those  in  authority.  The  hell 
of  the  ^Eneid  and  the  pool  of  Phaedo  will 
show,  first,  that  reason  unaided  by  revela- 
tion demands  a  future  punishment  for 
crime;  secondly,  that  the  Catholic  dogma 
on  this  point  fits  in  neatly  with  the  dictates 
of  reason  and  meets  an  instinct  of  nature. 
Then  the  lesson  will  be  made  actual  by  ref- 
erences to  current  thought  and  other  con- 
temporary conditions.  All  this  will  the 
good  teacher  do,  if  not  from  love,  at  least 
from  duty;  for  such  is  the  demand  of  his 
profession. 

But  to  do  all  this  the  master  must  him- 
self be  a  man  of  character.  He  must 
tower  over  his  pupils  in  soul  power.  The 
frog  can  scarcely  teach  the  young  mock- 


8  TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

ing-bird  to  sing.  The  man  of  low  estate 
cannot  impart  high  lessons  to  others.  The 
touch  of  his  finger-tips  will  not  cause  his 
pupils  to  leap  erect  into  a  new-found  life. 
It  will  but  leave  mire  and  pitch  on  the 
younger  finger-tips.  If  the  high  thoughts 
to  which  he  gives  utterance  are  hung  on 
his  soul  by  borrowed  hooks,  they  will  do 
more  harm  than  good.  They  will  gener- 
ate in  his  class-room  an  atmosphere  of  in- 
sincerity which  is  apt  to  destroy  the  very 
capability  of  a  young  soul  for  many  of  the 
virtues  nowadays  sadly  needed,  truth,  for 
instance,  and  respect  for  authority. 

Teachers  therefore  must  cultivate  a 
great  heart.  Great  hearts  beget  great 
hearts.  Heroes  generate  heroes.  They 
must  have  unswerving  faith  in  the  essen- 
tial goodness  of  their  pupils ;  they  must  be 
men  of  sympathy  and  broad  view,  patient, 
free  from  prejudice,  forgiving,  gentle  yet 
firm,  humble  but  confident,  generous, 
bounteous,  cordial,  dignified  but  not  stilted, 
enthusiastic,  totally  in  earnest  with  an 
earnestness  that  comes  from  the  convic- 
tion that  their  vocation  is  a  gift  from  God 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING          9 

for  which  they  cannot  be  too  grateful.  All 
this  must  they  be,  and  more.  They  were 
taskmasters  else,  hirelings,  and  not  as  they 
should  be,  the  chosen  ones  of  God,  * l  to  give 
sight  to  the  blind,"  "to  set  free  the  cap- 
tive." 

Such  then  are  the  traits  of  the  real 
teacher.  He  who  possesses  them  will  fall 
neither  in  great  things  nor  in  those  smaller 
details  in  which  so  many  are  deficient.  For 
instance,  he  will  stand  by  lawful  authority ; 
he  will  not  shrink  from  the  smallest  duty 
to  curry  favor;  he  will  not  accept  an  in- 
exact observation,  a  careless  statement,  a 
half  truth.  He  will  not  allow  roughness 
or  discourtesy  to  pass  unrebuked,  realizing 
that  to  do  so  were  to  demoralize  rather 
than  to  upbuild  character. 

The  broad  ocean  is  composed  of  small 
drops ;  character  is  formed  piece  by  piece, 
from  thoughts  and  words  and  deeds  that 
come  from  out  the  soul  and  go  back  again 
to  fashion  it  unto  good  or  evil.  Each 
morning  the  master  will  go  forth  to  his 
work  with  hope  and  courage,  firm  in  the 
conviction  that  he  is  to  accomplish  some- 


10        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

thing  sublime.  No  difficulty  will  frighten 
him,  no  material,  be  it  ever  so  unpromis- 
ing, will  dishearten  him.  The  Providence 
of  God  is  his  mantle,  the  faith  which 
teaches  him  that  there  are  divine  possibili- 
ties in  every  soul,  his  staff.  He  will  in- 
sist with  himself  that  the  roughest  soul 
may  be  fashioned  "into  a  vessel  of  elec- 
tion." 

The  Florentines  are  exceedingly  proud 
of  their  great  statue  of  David,  and  rightly 
so,  for  it  is  a  thing  of  beauty.  Yet  behold 
its  origin!  Michael  Angelo  had  pondered 
well  the  life  of  God's  hero.  He  had  medi- 
tated on  his  virtues,  rejoiced  in  his  great 
deeds,  sorrowed  in  his  trials,  until  his  soul 
re-lived  David's  life  so  long  and  faithfully 
that  David's  image  was  stamped  hard  and 
fast,  every  feature  of  it,  on  his  mind.  Then 
the  sculptor  went  forth  in  quest  of  material 
in  which  to  embody  that  picture.  He 
found  it  on  a  scrap  heap,  a  cast-off  piece 
of  marble.  Slowly  and  patiently  he 
worked  on  that  despised  material,  watch- 
ing every  line  that  appeared  thereon.  Soon 
a  form  began  to  emerge,  faint  and  rough 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         11 

at  first,  but  gradually  yielding  under  skil- 
ful blow  and  touch  to  something  finer  and 
still  finer,  until  at  last  David  stood  forth, 
so  fair  and  lifelike  that  he  seemed  ready 
to  grasp  his  sling  and  slay  a  monster.  An 
artist  had  conceived  a  hero  and  reproduced 
a  hero  from  castaway  material. 

Christian  teachers  should  do  likewise. 
They  should  conceive  unto  themselves 
Christ,  their  prototype,  the  great  teacher. 
They  should  ponder  His  life,  burn  His  im- 
age into  their  souls,  till  it  becomes  a  flam- 
ing, leaping  thing  which  must  communi- 
cate itself  to  others.  Then  the  most  un- 
promising material  will  yield  to  their  in- 
fluence. The  breath  of  a  new  life  will  en- 
ter it.  A  new  image  will  appear  therein, 
weak  and  blurred  at  first,  but  growing 
slowly  in  shape  and  beauty,  until  at  last 
the  fair  Christ  is  reproduced  in  another 
human  soul.  The  teachers'  work  is  done. 
Generations  will  call  them  blessed. 


CHAPTER  II 
TRUE  EDUCATION 

MANY  men  in  many  professions  score  a 
failure  in  life.  The  teacher's  profession 
seems  especially  fruitful  of  wrecks. 
Though  there  are  many  contributing 
causes  to  ill  success  in  this  vocation,  yet 
there  is  one  which  is  generally  eminent 
amongst  all  others.  Young  men  fired  with 
enthusiasm  for  a  noble  cause  approach 
their  task  without  a  definite  idea  of  the 
work  of  a  true  educator.  They  do  not  set  a 
right  standard  for  themselves.  They  en- 
ter the  class-room  intent  on  suppressing 
disorder,  teaching  syntax  and  anything 
else  which  may  happen  to  be  on  their  sched- 
ule. The  printed  card  on  which  are  listed 
subjects  and  periods,  and  the  few  instruc- 
tions which  the  head  master  may  vouch- 
safe to  give,  are  their  sole  directive  agents. 
12 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         13 

Books  learned  piecemeal  have  been  their 
preceptors.  Bealities  are  lost  in  a  haze. 
It  never  occurs  to  them  that  each  lesson 
should  be  a  step  towards  the  realization 
of  a  great  scheme,  the  production  of  a  no- 
ble man.  They  teach  Latin,  and  they  teach 
Greek,  but  beyond  the  Latin  and  the  Greek 
there  does  not  loom  up  in  all  his  sublime 
proportions  the  man  whom  they  should 
strive  to  form.  Hence  their  work  is  un- 
inspired, undirected,  haphazard,  worth- 
less. For  success  follows  only  on  well- 
rounded  ideals  prudently  elaborated.  So 
it  is  in  all  arts  and  sciences,  and  teaching 
is  both  one  and  the  other.  The  successful 
artist  first  conceives  every  important  de- 
tail of  the  masterpiece,  and  after  that 
works  under  the  inspiration  and  guidance 
of  his  exemplar.  The  architect  concludes 
that  a  church  should  catch  up  the  soul  from 
earth  by  impressing  it  with  the  idea  of 
God's  might  and  sublimity,  with  reverence 
and  devotion.  Then  he  draws  upon  the 
canvas  of  his  soul  a  picture  of  the  mighty 
Gothic  temple,  with  its  great  nave  and 
huge  pillars  symbolic  of  sublimity  and 


14        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

might,  its  towering  turrets  and  well-pro- 
portioned arches  symbolic  of  prayer.  He 
executes  his  design  and  man's  soul  is  sat- 
isfied. The  work  is  a  success.  Do  not 
painter  and  sculptor  act  likewise?  Pic- 
ture and  statue  are  both  the  realization  of 
a  proper  conception.  Should  either  man 
attempt  to  work  without  an  ideal,  the  ef- 
fect would  be  monstrous,  and  that,  too, 
not  from  lack  of  natural  ability  or  train- 
ing, but  from  sheer  absence  of  the  ideal. 
A  certain  English  painter  executed  ex- 
quisite portraits  of  high-born  dames,  but 
failed  lamentably  in  his  "Holy  Family." 
The  lesson  lies  on  the  surface.  A  teacher 
with  a  like  defect  will  be  deficient  in  his 
work,  and  failure  in  education  is  far  more 
serious  both  for  educator  and  pupil  than 
failure  in  most  other  vocations.  For  in 
education  we  deal  with  an  immortal  soul. 
Its  fate  is  in  our  hands.  Its  destiny  is 
bound  up  with  our  work.  We  are  to  fash- 
ion it  either  into  a  vessel  of  glory  or  in- 
famy, and  in  the  fashioning  lies  our  re- 
ward or  punishment; — more  often  the  lat- 
ter than  the  former,  we  fear. 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         15 

To  make  the  situation  more  portentous, 
character  once  deformed  in  natural  traits 
is  apt  to  remain  deformed  therein  forever. 
Few  men  retrace  their  boyhood  steps  to 
set  right  early  mistakes.  Few  recognize 
their  shortcomings,  fewer  still  know  how 
to  correct  them,  fewest  are  inclined  to  do 
so.  Hence  the  teacher's  task  is  as  far 
above  the  architect's  and  painter's  and 
sculptor's  as  the  human  soul  is  above  wood 
and  stone  and  canvas  and  pigments.  He 
must  then  labor  under  the  influence  of  the 
highest  and  most  definite  idea  of  the  aim 
of  his  work. 

For  this  he  must  realize  what  true  edu- 
cation is.  Real  education  is  a  process  of 
guiding  a  human  being  from  a  state  of  im- 
perfection to  a  state  of  perfection.  It  is 
the  development  of  man  according  to  the 
highest  attainable  standards,  the  disci- 
pline of  soul  and  body  into  the  best  that  can 
be  had.  Such  a  process  concerns  itself 
with  every  part  of  the  pupil :  with  the  body 
and  the  senses,  with  the  soul  and  all  its 
powers.  Since  each  individual  faculty  is 
the  servant  of  the  whole  man,  and  man  is 


16        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

% 

the  slave  of  none,  all  must  be  developed 
harmoniously.  If  one  be  cultivated  at  the 
expense  of  another,  the  fine  equilibrium 
which  should  be  the  most  cherished  posses- 
sion of  every  educated  man,  is  lost.  If 
body  and  senses  be  cultivated  at  the  expense 
of  the  higher  faculties,  the  result  is  either 
a  fox  or  a  mere  athlete,  creatures  equally 
unlovely.  If  the  intellect  is  trained  at  the 
cost  of  the  will,  the  outcome  is  a  rascal. 
If  the  imagination  be  fostered  to  the  neg- 
lect of  the  other  faculties,  the  product  is 
a  mild  lunatic.  If  memory  alone  be 
strengthened,  we  have  a  machine.  If  the 
will  receives  all  attention,  behold  a  fanatic 
or  a  pious  dolt!  God's  purpose  cannot  be 
thwarted  without  sad  effect,  and  God  did 
not  intend  man  to  be  a  gladiator  only,  nor 
a  mere  scholar,  nor  simply  an  upright  man, 
but  a  perfect  combination  of  all:  a  lithe 
and  active  body,  acute  senses,  a  powerful 
intellect,  a  virtuous  heart;  such  His  de- 
mand. 

But  how  accomplish  all  this?    As  re- 
gards the  body,  little  need  be  said.    In  the 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         17 

years  of  adolescence  a  primal  instinct  im- 
parted by  the  Creator  for  the  purpose 
guides  youths  in  this  matter.  It  were  well 
to  study  this  instinct  and  follow  its  dic- 
tates, curbing  now,  stimulating  again. 
Thus  the  body  will  be  trained;  and  the 
whole  interest  of  the  college,  faculty  and 
students  included,  will  not  centre  round  an 
inflated  bag  or  a  willow  club.  The  senses 
require  more  consideration.  English  em- 
pirical philosophy  has  led  to  many  excesses 
in  their  regard.  They  have  absorbed  and 
are  absorbing  entirely  too  much  attention. 
On  the  other  hand  they  must  not  be  under- 
rated. They  are  agents  of  caution  and  ac- 
curacy, and  consequently  promote  good 
thinking,  indirectly  at  least.  Moreover, 
as  everybody  knows,  there  is  an  intimate 
connection  between  them  and  the  exceed- 
ingly important  imagination.  The  blind 
and  the  deaf,  for  instance,  are  forever  shut 
out  from  certain  intellectual  gifts.  By  all 
means  then  cultivate  the  senses.  For  this 
manual  training  is  good.  However  it  is 
not  the  only  means.  Accurate  observa- 


18         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

tion  in  field  and  street,  care  in  reading  and 
writing  play  a  splendid  second  in  the 
process. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of 
faculties  which  present  more  intricate  dif- 
ficulties. False  psychology  and  ethics  lead 
to  many  blunders  here.  Sometimes  the 
memory  is  neglected,  very  frequently  the 
imagination,  most  frequently  the  will. 
What,  now,  should  our  attitude  be? 

To  begin  with  the  memory:  first,  no  one 
should  doubt  the  importance  of  this  fac- 
ulty. It  is  a  real  handmaid,  on  whose  ac- 
tion most  of  the  higher  powers  of  the  soul 
depend  in  a  marked  degree.  A  weak  mem- 
ory is  often  a  manacle  to  a  quick  intelli- 
gence, and  a  sieve  through  which  the  finest 
fruits  of  the  imagination  filter.  So  it  must 
be  cultivated.  There  are  two  ways  of 
doing  this,  one  indirect,  the  other  direct. 
Clear,  accurate,  noble  thinking  constitutes 
the  first.  Such  thoughts  exercise  a  salu- 
tary influence  on  every  faculty.  Exercise 
is  the  second,  rational  exercise  on  matter 
which  is  so  beautiful  and  easy  of  compre- 
hension that  one  who  runs  will  understand 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         19 

and  love  it.  As  is  clear,  great  care  should 
be  taken  to  prevent  the  memorizing  from 
becoming  a  mere  process  of  gorging  and 
the  repetition  a  species  of  regurgitation. 
For  these  would  promote  mental  slovenli- 
ness and  torpor  of  the  reason. 

Hardly  less  important  than  the  memory 
is  the  imagination,  a  truly  noble  but  rest- 
less and  at  times  wayward  faculty,  which 
is  easily  elevated  and  as  easily  debased. 
By  it  man  can  live  with  angels  and  saints 
or  wallow  with  the  animal.  Without  it  he 
would  be  little  better  than  a  statistician  or 
the  dry-as-dust  scientist  who  described 
noble  grief  in  terms  of  chemical  notation. 
Literature  would  be  a  poor  thing  indeed 
without  rich  and  varied  imagery.  For  lit- 
erature is  not  a  succession  of  words  and 
phrases,  nor  even  a  collection  of  fine  ideas. 
More  than  this  is  required.  Pictorial  and 
dramatic  elements  enter  largely  into  its 
composition.  Lofty  thoughts  and  noble 
emotions  must  be  clothed  in  superb  lan- 
guage. Then  and  only  then  is  literature 
born.  Homer,  Virgil,  Dante,  Milton  are 
fascinating,  if  not  sublime,  because  of  the 


20        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

superb  play  of  the  phantasy.  Moreover, 
literature  exerts  its  cultural  influence 
chiefly  through  this  same  faculty.  It  fas- 
tens itself  on  it,  and  through  it  arouses 
high  ideas  and  noble  emotions.  The  pol- 
ished and  elegant  (Edipus  frequently  has 
less  humanistic  effect  than  the  more 
rugged  Prometheus  or  the  distinctly  in- 
ferior Hecuba,  solely  because  the  first  does 
not  appeal  to  many  imaginations.  The 
triumphant  Achilles  charioteering  madly 
round  the  walls,  spear  in  hand,  and  then 
disappearing  through  the  flaming  breach, 
followed  by  hosts  of  lusty  warriors;  the 
giant  staring  savagely  into  Ulysses'  face 
with  that  one  awful  eye;  the  white-sailed 
galleys  speeding  swiftly  on  as  strong  oars- 
men " smite  the  sounding  furrows;"  dis- 
torted, shaggy-maned,  long-fanged  mon- 
sters appearing  above  the  foaming  waves 
and  dragging  frightened  men  from  their 
places  to  a  certain  death;  these  and  kin- 
dred or  more  sublime  pictures  are  the  ele- 
ments that  thrill  the  youthful  soul  and 
eventually  win  it  to  appreciation  of  the 
higher  realities  and  the  more  subtle  feel- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        21 

ings  of  Homer,  Virgil,  Dante,  Milton.  The 
imagination  then  is  the  agent  of  noble 
work,  and  every  instrument  should  be 
called  into  requisition  to  train  it.  Litera- 
ture, painting,  music,  the  drama,  natural 
scenery  are  all  potent  factors  in  purifying 
it  and  stimulating  it. 

There  yet  remain  two  faculties  to  be 
considered.  The  first  in  order  is  the  intel- 
lect. Of  this  so  much  can  be  said  that  too 
much  is  apt  to  be  said.  To  forefend 
against  such  a  defect  we  shall  confine  our 
remarks  to  some  general  hints.  The  aim 
of  a  college  is  not  to  train  specialists ;  that 
belongs  to  professional  schools.  Neither 
should  a  college  strive  to  store  the  intellect 
with  facts.  Eather  its  effort  should  be  ex- 
erted to  give  pupils  a  love  of  learning,  a 
desire  to  be  learned,  and  a  knowledge  of 
how  to  become  so.  An  illustration  will 
make  our  contention  clear.  In  a  college 
there  are  two  sets  of  men.  First,  there  are 
brilliant  fellows  who  perform  their  daily 
tasks  well.  Their  repetitions  are  perfect: 
they  solve  problems,  marshal  dates,  ana- 
lyze passages  in  a  most  satisfactory  fash- 


22        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

ion,  and,  as  a  consequence,  are  graduated 
with  honors.  But  their  laurels  are  scarce 
a  month  old  before  learning  begins  to  pall 
on  them.  Books  and  all  other  means  of 
education  are  neglected,  and  intellectual 
progress  ceases.  The  second  class  is  com- 
posed of  plodders  who  labor  hard  with  in- 
different success,  often  stumble,  but  never 
lose  heart.  They  too  are  graduated  but 
not  with  honor.  However,  they  go  forth 
from  the  college  determined  to  continue 
the  discipline  of  soul,  and  in  time,  by  dint 
of  hard,  persistent  labor,  they  become  men 
of  culture  and  learning.  The  former  were 
not  educated,  the  latter  were.  The  former 
were  neither  disciplined  nor  taught  how  to 
discipline  themselves.  Their  minds  were 
sponges,  which  absorbed  and  exuded  ma- 
terial under  pressure  of  a  perceptorial 
stimulus.  The  latter,  however,  were  dis- 
ciplined and  taught  how  to  discipline 
themselves.  They  received  a  college  train- 
ing. 

To  accomplish  this  every  legitimate 
means  should  be  employed.  Every  study 
is  useful.  Each  gives  some  aid:  mathe- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         23 

matics,  caution  and  accuracy;  physical  sci- 
ence, alertness  and  accuracy  too;  history, 
high  ideals ;  and  so  on  for  other  branches. 
They  must  be  used  prudently,  however. 
One  is  not  to  be  given  unfair  advantage 
over  another,  for  undue  progress  in  one 
direction  means  a  halt  in  another.  Then 
too  the  best  that  is  in  a  subject  should  be 
brought  out.  Mathematics  is  not  a  page 
of  notation ;  history  is  not  a  series  of  facts. 
Beneath  the  one  is  a  logic  to  be  unfolded; 
beneath  the  other,  ethics  to  be  laid  bare. 
Every  element  in  a  subject  should  be 
brought  to  bear  on  a  boy's  mind.  Litera- 
ture, for  example,  should  furnish  ethical, 
historical,  literary,  textual  aids  to  the 
work.  Not  many  of  the  last  however  lest 
digammas  and  iota-subscripts  obscure  the 
more  valuable  factors. 

The  will  alone,  the  storm-centre  of  many 
disputes,  remains  for  discussion.  To  our 
mind  there  is  no  objective  reason  for  any 
difference  of  opinion  about  the  training  of 
this  faculty.  It  needs  education  and  should 
get  it.  There  is  impulsiveness  to  be 
checked,  stubbornness  to  be  softened,  pet- 


24        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

tiness  to  be  stifled,  and  so  on  through  a 
long  category.  There  are  a  thousand  ways 
of  effecting  all  this.  But  in  order  that  a 
teacher  may  use  them  to  advantage  he  must 
know  the  character  of  each  pupil  and  adapt 
the  methods  to  the  individual.  All  cannot 
be  treated  alike.  Twin  brothers  may  be 
as  different  in  disposition  as  lambs  and 
crocodiles.  And  the  master  is  not  a 
herder,  but  a  trainer  of  souls. 

Skilful  repetitions  will  furnish  many  oc- 
casions for  efficient  work  on  the  will.  A 
rebuke  here,  a  word  of  encouragement 
there,  a  playful  remark  now,  an  insinua- 
tion again,  are  all  useful  in  their  proper 
place.  All  should  be  used  as  prudence  and 
need  dictate.  Then  there  are  the  great 
disciplines  which  appeal  to  the  highest  that 
is  in  the  human  soul.  In  the  natural  order 
there  are  appeals  to  honor  and  self-respect 
and  patriotism  and  love  of  parents  and 
college,  and  a  thousand  others  which  find 
an  echo  in  the  human  heart.  Such  things 
should  not  be  neglected.  Though  not  the 
best,  they  are  yet  noble.  They  are  nat- 
ural, it  is  true.  But  is  nature  bad?  Is 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         25 

not  the  supernatural  built  up  on  the  nat- 
ural? How  often  are  we  not  taunted  with 
the  accusation  that  a  bad  Catholic  is  the 
worst  of  men !  If  this  be  true,  may  not  the 
reason  lie  in  the  fact  that  when  the  slender 
cord  which  bound  him  to  Heaven  broke, 
there  was  nothing  to  fall  back  upon,  simply 
because  the  natural  virtues  had  been 
scorned  by  his  teachers  f 

Of  course  the  great  means  for  our  work 
are  supernatural.  For  there  are  defects 
in  the  human  soul  which  only  the  plummet 
of  revealed  religion  can  sound,  crevices 
which  only  the  light  from  God's  face  can 
illuminate  and  cleanse.  Religion  alone 
stirs  the  soul  to  its  very  depths,  lifts  it  out 
of  itself  and  cleanses  it  of  sin  and  the  de- 
sire of  sin.  Even  so  slight  a  part  of  re- 
ligion as  the  more  simple  devotions  are  of 
incalculable  value  in  education.  The  saint 
who  was  as  ourselves,  weak  and  perchance 
sinful,  stands  before  the  boy  in  transcen- 
dent glory.  The  young  soul  goes  out  to 
the  holy  one  of  God  in  admiration,  affec- 
tion. Now  love  is  aroused,  now  intense 
reverence,  now  pity  or  mercy,  or  desire  of 


26        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

emulation:  all,  in  short,  that  purifies,  sub- 
dues, and  yet  elevates. 

Here  then  is  our  great  educator:  reli- 
gion, doctrine  and  practice,  too;  gently 
urged,  sweetly  accomplished.  For  religion 
is  life  also.  We  must  insist  on  all  this. 
For  often  the  soul  must  leap  up  from  the 
slime  of  earth,  and  to  whom  shall  it  bound, 
save  to  God  the  Father,  Searcher  of  hearts, 
the  Dispenser  of  the  wine  of  love,  and  the 
oil  of  mercy?  This  then  is  education,  a 
process  of  perfecting  man,  body  and  soul, 
by  all  the  means  which  nature  and  grace 
can  furnish.  But  where  shall  we  find  our 
exemplar  f  He  breathes  through  the  pages 
of  Holy  Writ. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  IDEAL  TEACHER 

TRUE  education  is  generally  the  work  of 
skilful  teachers.  Since  the  former  is  a 
pearl  without  price,  the  value  of  the  latter 
can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  In  view  of 
this,  a  consideration  of  the  qualities  of  an 
ideal  master  will  not  be  out  of  place.  The 
subject,  of  course,  is  large,  too  large  for 
adequate  treatment  in  the  short  space 
which  can  be  allotted  to  it.  Hence  the  most 
that  can  be  done  is  to  jot  down  a  few  re- 
marks in  the  hope  that  they  will  open  up 
a  line  of  thought  which  can  be  followed  out 
later. 

So  to  begin.  By  virtue  of  his  office,  the 
real  educator  should,  first  of  all,  be  a  gen- 
tleman. The  reasons  for  this  are  too  ob- 
vious to  demand  discussion.  Not  so,  how- 
ever, the  elements  which  go  to  constitute  a 

27 


28        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

gentleman.  They  are  many  and  complex. 
Some  are  small  and  easily  neglected,  some 
large  and  difficult  of  acquisition  and  re- 
tention. All  are  important.  In  the  for- 
mer class  are  many  which  delicacy  and  a 
sense  of  propriety  exclude  from  public  dis- 
cussion. There  are  others  about  which  a 
passing  word  is  better  than  a  disquisition. 
For  no  teacher  would  tolerate  without  in- 
dignation insistence  on  the  necessity  of 
simple,  chaste  language,  free  from  the  taint 
of  slang  and  provincialism,  and  an  accu- 
rate, unaffected  pronunciation.  The  finer 
instincts  in  which  all  people  of  the  profes- 
sion share  alike  are  sufficient  guarantees 
for  correctness  in  these  matters.  But  this 
cannot  be  said  of  other  necessary  char- 
acteristics. For  sometimes  in  the  stress 
and  strain  of  work  both  instinct  and  train- 
ing fail  us.  This  is  especially  true  in  re- 
gard to  courtesy,  to  which  are  closely  linked 
frankness  and  openness  of  mind,  qualities 
by  which  the  good  influence  of  a  teacher  is 
largely  buttressed.  Strange  though  it  may 
appear,  it  is  just  here  that  teachers  are 
so  apt  to  fail.  By  its  very  nature  their 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         29 

profession  tends  to  make  them  exceedingly 
dogmatic  and  sensitive  of  correction. 
They  spend  a  great  part  of  their  life  in 
contact  with  inferior  minds,  which  they 
must  often  coerce  into  knowledge.  From 
sheer  necessity  of  being  dictatorial  on  oc- 
casions they  are  apt  to  become  habitually 
and  arrogantly  so.  Their  dogmatism  often 
exceeds  all  bounds,  even  the  bounds  of 
truth.  The  intellectual  evils  of  this  are 
deplorable  enough,  but  the  moral  effect  is 
well  nigh  disastrous.  Frankness  slips 
away  and  cunning  and  untruthfulness,  the 
refuge  of  cowards,  and  unfairness  to  ad- 
versaries develop.  The  mind  is  closed  to 
all  suggestion  and  correction  and  improve- 
ment. It  has  become  sufficient  to  itself, 
and  woe  betide  the  pupil  who  catches  his 
master  napping  and  dares  to  throw  even  a 
pale,  flickering  light  on  an  official  blunder. 
Cujusvis  hominis  est  errare,  nullius,  nisi 
insipientis,  in  errore  perseverare,  is  a  ped- 
agogical heresy. 

This  would  not  be  so  bad  did  it  not  tend 
to  generate  prejudice,  a  fault  so  common 
amongst  teachers  that  it  seems  to  be  a 


30        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

schoolmaster's  peculiar  heritage.  The 
harm  which  this  defect  works  is  beyond 
computation.  It  erects  an  unscalable 
adamantine  wall  between  master  and  dis- 
ciple, begets  distrust  and  ill  feeling  on  both 
sides,  snuffs  out  the  teacher's  desire  to 
better  the  condition  of  his  charges,  closes 
the  boy's  heart  against  the  man  and  often 
engenders  in  the  young  soul  contempt  for 
the  master  and  all  that  he  stands  for,  how- 
ever sacred.  Nor  does  the  evil  end  here. 
The  boy  is  fired  with  a  sense  of  wrong, 
obsessed  with  the  idea  of  injustice,  real  or 
imaginary,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  speak 
his  thoughts,  thus  begetting  dislike  for  the 
school  in  the  minds  of  parents  and  pros- 
pective pupils.  The  teacher  too  plays  his 
role  in  the  drama  of  further  mischief.  He 
speaks  unkindly,  often  unjustly  of  his  pu- 
pils. Minds  are  poisoned  against  them, 
and  as  a  consequence  they  must  meet  a 
hostile  and  oftentimes  militant  prejudice 
all  along  the  line  of  travel.  Thus  souls  are 
warped  and  perchance  ruined  because  the 
teacher  has  not  the  self-control  of  a  gentle- 
man. Even  though  the  process  of  destruc- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         31 

tion  may  not  proceed  as  far  as  this,  yet  the 
evil  is  always  great.  For  the  teacher  who 
alienates  his  pupils  from  him  labors  under 
a  tremendous  disadvantage.  Strive  as  he 
may  to  better  conditions,  boys '  motives  for 
study  are  seldom  high.  Few  study  from 
a  sense  of  duty,  fewer  from  fear  or  hope 
of  reward,  fewest  from  love  of  books. 
Many,  however,  will  work  out  of  admira- 
tion and  love  of  the  professor,  who  should 
strive  to  gain  the  respect  and  affection  of 
his  pupils  so  that  he  may  hold  the  key  to 
their  wills  for  noble  purposes.  But  this 
is  a  digression. 

Courtesy  will  bear  further  analysis  with- 
out being  exhausted.  In  the  first  place  it 
is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  this  fine  flower 
of  religion  does  not  consist  in  soft  accents, 
graceful  bows  and  gentle  smiles.  It  lies 
below  the  surface.  It  is  an  instinct  of  a 
cultivated  soul,  proportionate  to  the  good- 
ness thereof,  and  shows  itself  in  a  thou- 
sand ways,  such  as  by  respect  for  superi- 
ors, the  aged,  the  opinions,  feeling,  rights 
and  legitimate  habits  of  others,  and  all 
that.  Here  then  is  one  of  a  gentleman's 


32        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

chief  assets,  and  no  teacher  can  dispense 
with  it.  Moreover  a  gentleman,  and  hence 
an  ideal  teacher,  must  be  tactful,  calm,  not 
impulsive,  simple  of  manner,  not  affected, 
large  of  mind  in  all  things,  not  small:  in 
short,  so  well  disciplined  as  to  be  perfectly 
balanced.  Those  who  would  pursue  this 
subject  further  would  do  well  to  ponder 
Newman's  description,  excising  a  phrase 
or  two  and  adding  to  all  the  perfection  of 
Christian  charity. 

The  other  traits  of  a  perfect  teacher  are 
numerous.  For  the  sake  of  clearness  they 
can  be  divided  into  two  classes,  natural  and 
supernatural. 

Amongst  the  former  ability  stands  pre- 
eminent. Like  courtesy,  this  quality  sug- 
gests many  ideas;  some  in  reference  to 
the  intellect,  others  in  regard  to  the  will. 
That  a  teacher  should  be  intellectual  goes 
without  saying.  The  classroom  is  no  place 
for  a  dolt  or  an  ill-trained  man.  The  true 
master  must  have  natural  ability  which  has 
been  cultivated  long  and  assiduously.  His 
subject  matter  must  be  a  part  of  his  life 
and  he  must  be  able  to  present  it  simply, 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        33 

clearly,  directly,  correctly.  If  it  is  hazy 
in  his  mind,  it  will  be  thick  on  his  lips  and 
foggy  in  the  minds  of  his  boys.  If  he  finds 
difficulty  in  clothing  his  ideas  in  words  and 
does  so  awkwardly,  his  listeners  will  have 
greater  difficulty  in  grasping  his  meaning. 
If  he  is  inaccurate,  his  charges  will  be  an 
abomination  of  desolation  in  this  regard. 
If  he  is  disorderly  and  inconsequent  in 
presentation,  his  pupils  will  be  the  despair 
of  all  future  teachers.  An  illogical  mind 
is  almost  as  incorrigible  as  the  devil. 
Learning,  order,  conciseness,  clearness, 
simplicity,  power  to  amuse  without  dis- 
tracting, therefore,  are  some  of  the  quali- 
ties a  successful  educator  should  have. 

Such  an  equipment  requires  hard 
thought  and  perpetual  study  for  acquisi- 
tion and  upkeep  and  profitable  use.  The 
moment  a  man  ceases  to  reflect  and  study, 
in  that  instant  he  lapses  from  a  teacher  to 
a  mouther  of  words.  No  matter  how 
learned  he  may  be,  he  stands  in  need  of 
proximate  preparation  for  class.  With- 
out this  his  ideas  will  inevitably  be  vague, 
loose,  inconsequent.  Moreover  sciences 


34        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

grow.  Then  too  there  is  constant  need  of 
remoulding  old  knowledge  to  meet  new  con- 
ditions. New  illustrations  must  always  be 
sought.  The  Parthians  and  Medes  are 
dead  a  bit  too  long  to  interest  American 
boys.  The  teacher  must  study  always,  not 
by  books  alone,  but  by  accurate  observa- 
tion also,  and  by  attendance  at  lectures,  and 
so  forth. 

This  brings  our  discussion  to  another 
group  of  characteristics  of  a  perfect  mas- 
ter. They  may  be  called  moral  for  they 
pertain  to  the  will.  They  fall  naturally 
into  two  classes,  a  minor  and  a  major.  In 
the  former  are  found  justice,  fortitude,  the 
mother  of  perseverance  and  good  disci- 
pline, kindness  and  patience.  These  are 
indispensable.  The  teacher's  position  is 
unprofitable  and  intolerable  without  them. 
Year  after  year  his  life  is  cast  amongst  un- 
trained youths  of  all  sorts  of  dispositions 
and  habits.  Some  are  jealous  and  are  con- 
tinually on  the  alert  for  the  least  sign  of 
favoritism.  Some  are  clamorously  bold 
and  stand  in  need  of  stiff  rebukes.  Some 
are  weak  and  timid  and  long  for  sympathy 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         35 

and  encouragement.  Some  are  lazy  and 
require  the  lash.  Some  are  petulant ;  some 
impulsive;  others  are  querulous,  others 
again  coarse.  Some  are  untruthful,  others 
politic.  All  are  imperfect  in  a  thousand 
diverse  ways  and  degrees.  The  teacher 
must  meet  all  these  different  exigencies 
quietly,  calmly,  effectively,  bending  now 
one  way,  now  another,. smoothing  a  wrinkle 
here,  levelling  a  mountain  there,  till  at  last 
the  soul  committed  to  his  care  is  normal, 
if  not  supernormal. 

The  major  and  last  class  of  moral  quali- 
ties can  be  summed  up  in  one  word,  godli- 
ness. The  ungodly  man  is  entirely  out  of 
place  in  a  classroom.  He  himself  is 
stunted,  deformed  and  cannot  form  others. 
His  soul  is  unsymmetrical  and  he  may  com- 
municate his  amorphism  to  others.  He 
lacks  the  last  and  most  potent  touch  re- 
quired for  perfection,  the  touch  of  God. 
The  Os  sublime  is  not  his.  His  horizon  is 
narrowed  to  earth.  His  thoughts  are  of 
gold  and  beef  and  beer  and  cheese,  and 
alas!  sin.  If  he  be  true  to  his  principles 
he  will  be  an  insufferable  egoist.  Indeed, 


36        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

human  respect  or  lack  of  logic  alone  will 
save  him  from  this,  and  both  are  equally 
undesirable  in  a  trainer  of  men.  Life  will 
begin  with  himself  and  end  with  himself. 
His  whims  and  passions  will  be  his  laws, 
and  as  far  as  he  can  effect  it,  everybody 
else's  laws.  God  and  state  and  individual 
will  be  so  many  objects  for  his  personal 
aggrandizement,  irrespective  of  his  duties 
and  their  rights.  Logically  all  his  tenden- 
cies will  be  distinctly  anti-social.  Such  is 
the  natural  outcome  of  selfishness.  And 
ungodliness,  to  put  it  at  its  lowest,  is  the 
supremest  selfishness,  frantic  egotism 
which  outrages  every  sense  of  decency  and 
justice,  unseats  God  and  puts  self  on  the 
throne  for  which  man  should  be  the  foot- 
stool. Away  then  with  the  ungodly 
teacher.  Give  us  rather  the  man  of  God, 
reverent,  high-minded,  devout.  In  such 
there  is  a  power  for  good,  not  of  earth,  but 
of  Heaven. 

These  then  are  some  of  the  chief  char- 
acteristics of  the  ideal  master.  He  can  be 
aptly  described  in  words  adapted  from 
Plato's  "Kepublic,"  as  a  lover  of  all  wis- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         37 

dom,  a  man  with  a  taste  for  every  kind  of 
knowledge  and  an  insatiable  desire  to 
learn;  one  who  has  greatness  of  soul  and 
a  well  proportioned  mind,  quick  to  learn 
and  to  retain ;  a  spectator  of  all  times  and 
all  existence,  noble  and  gracious,  the  friend 
of  truth,  justice,  courage,  temperance. 
All  which  we  cap  with  the  word,  godly. 

Such  the  teacher.  Great,  noble,  consol- 
ing is  his  task.  Workers  on  marble  may 
live  to  see  their  work  perish,  builders  of 
temples  may  watch  their  masterpieces 
crumble  in  the  dust :  teachers  will  have  the 
consolation  of  beholding  the  temple  of  God, 
the  shrine  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  they 
helped  to  raise  and  sustain  in  human  souls, 
stand  for  eternity,  in  dazzling  light,  a  mon- 
ument of  their  zeal  and  a  tribute  to  their 
nobility. 


CHAPTER  IV 
METHODS  OF  TEACHING 

THE  teacher  who  reflects  on  his  work  and 
experiences  will  probably  be  confronted 
by  a  phenomenon  which  is  becoming  all 
too  common  in  these  latter  days.  As  he 
muses  there  will  pass  before  his  mind  a 
shuffling  army  of  boys  who  were  at  once  his 
care  and  his  despair.  They  were  likely 
lads  in  many  ways.  Physically  they  were 
sound,  morally  they  were  upright.  But 
intellectually  they  were  impossible,  and 
this,  too,  not  through  lack,  of  native  ability, 
but  rather  through  sheer  absence  of  ambi- 
tion. At  first  blush  this  phenomenon 
seems  puzzling,  but  it  loses  its  obscurity 
once  we  call  upon  our  larger  experiences 
for  a  solution. 

As  we  go  through  life  we  meet  many  men 
of  many  races  and  characters,  and  amongst 

38 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        39 

this  motley  throng  are  some  who  are  exact 
counterparts  of  our  smug  schoolboys. 
They  too  are  vigorous  of  frame,  virtuous 
and  amiable,  but  as  inactive  as  the  sloth, 
which  will  never  move  from  its  favorite 
tree  save  under  the  impulse  of  hunger. 
Conversation  will  soon  reveal  the  secret 
of  their  torpor.  They  have  few  or  no 
ideas,  and  those  which  they  have  are  small 
and  borrowed,  and  worn  from  prior  use 
by  many  other  intellectual  parasites.  As 
a  consequence  the  will  is  not  stimulated  to 
great  desires  and  sturdy  deeds.  It  has  no 
motive  power.  Thoughts  are  few  and  lit- 
tle and  outworn,  and  desires  and  acts  are 
commensurate  with  them,  no  better,  no 
worse.  For  the  will  follows  on  after  the 
intellect.  Our  friends  are  like  well-built 
ships  which  lie  at  anchor  in  the  harbor, 
rising  and  falling  listlessly  on  each  wave, 
and  rotting,  too,  for  lack  of  fuel  to  propel 
them. 

Now,  though  this  condition  is  often  due 
in  part  to  character  and  careless  home 
training,  yet  inefficient  teaching  more  often 
plays  a  large  part  in  accomplishing  it.  The 


40         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

school-room  is  too  frequently  the  grave  of 
mental  power  and  hope  and  ambition.  For 
there  are  two  ways  of  teaching,  and  one  of 
them  is  fatal  to  intellectual  life.  It  ruins 
the  very  vitality  of  the  mind  and  leaves  it 
jaded  and  prostrate.  This  method  is  an 
unnatural  process  of  stuffing  unaccom- 
panied by  digestion.  The  teacher  hastily 
loads  his  own  intellect  with  ill-sorted,  un- 
assimilated  odds  and  ends  of  knowledge, 
and  by  dint  of  great  physical  exertion 
worthy  of  a  stevedore,  pitches  shred  after 
shred,  patch  after  patch,  chunk  after  chunk 
into  the  tender  minds  of  the  pupils.  Men- 
tal dyspepsia,  with  all  its  lamentable  re- 
sults, such  as  disgust  for  learning,  follows. 
Euin  is  at  hand.  For  the  process  is  violent 
and  unnatural.  By  it  the  mind  is  contin- 
ually overloaded  and  weighed  down  with 
debris  of  all  sorts.  It  cannot  react  on  its 
contents ;  they  subjugate  it,  curb  it,  smother 
it,  kill  its  initiative,  condemn  it  to  a  pas- 
sivity which  in  the  end  destroys  its  appe- 
tite for  knowledge,  and  puts  in  its  stead  a 
tendency  to  nausea  at  the  very  sight  of  a 
book  or  the  sound  of  a  teacher's  voice.  A 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        41 

much  abused  stomach  will  refuse  to  per- 
form its  functions ;  so  will  a  maltreated  in- 
tellect. 

There  is  scarcely  need  of  laboring  this 
point  further.  However,  it  can  be  illus- 
trated from  an  analogy  with  a  partially 
true  example  from  the  social  life  of  ants. 
Amongst  these  wonderful  insects  there  are 
certain  individuals,  the  "repletes,"  which 
hang  from  the  roof  of  the  nest  chamber, 
day  in  and  day  out,  with  crop  full  of  food. 
They  themselves  assimilate  only  a  tiny  por- 
tion of  the  supply,  just  enough  to  keep 
them  alive.  Sparing  towards  themselves, 
they  are  prodigal  towards  others.  As  they 
hang  in  their  forced  position,  worker  after 
worker  approaches  them  to  have  food 
pumped  into  the  crop.  Should  the  repletes 
die,  the  workers  are  at  a  loss  for  their  daily 
sustenance,  and  death  often  overtakes 
them.  Now,  though  this  is  not  all  exactly 
square  with  facts,  yet  it  exemplifies  the 
main  point  at  issue.  The  teacher  is  the 
replete,  the  pupil  is  the  worker.  Deprive 
the  pupil  of  the  support  of  the  teacher  and 
his  fate  is  mental  stagnation  and  volitional 


42         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

inactivity  from  which  he  cannot  rebound, 
for  that  the  mind  has  lost  its  elasticity 
through  abuse.  Things  would  be  far  dif- 
ferent if  a  rational  method  of  teaching  had 
been  employed,  a  method  of  guidance  and 
suggestion,  under  which  the  mind  increases 
both  its  appetite  for  knowledge  and  its  rel- 
ish for  it. 

Here,  as  every  place  else,  nature  offers 
excellent  suggestions  for  the  success  of  our 
work,  and  a  moment's  reflection  will  re- 
veal all  of  them  to  us.  The  appetite  of 
the  mind  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to 
the  appetite  of  the  body.  In  youth  both 
are  keen.  They  require  little  stimulus,  and 
the  relish  consequent  on  their  satisfaction 
is  great.  They  wane  with  increasing  years 
and  often  need  a  spur.  What,  now,  is  the 
attitude  of  a  mother  or  nurse  with  regard 
to  the  bodily  appetite  of  the  child  ?  Stuff- 
ing, gorging,  is  not  tolerated.  Food  suit- 
able in  quantity  and  quality  to  the  age  and 
condition  of  the  child  is  given  in  a  decent, 
rational  manner.  Whenever  necessary, 
stimulus  is  exerted  to  promote  the  desire 
for  nourishment.  Through  gradual  train- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         43 

ing  the  boy  is  brought  to  know  his  own 
needs  and  capacity,  and  the  manner  of  sat- 
isfying himself,  according  to  changing  cir- 
cumstances. In  other  words,  he  is  edu- 
cated to  a  point  where  he  relies  on  his  own 
resources  so  prudently  that  his  conduct  en- 
sures his  growth  and  vigor.  This  is  just  the 
way  the  mind  must  be  trained.  In  this  case 
at  least,  art  and  science  too  must  follow  na- 
ture and  help  it.  The  teacher  must  exer- 
cise the  utmost  care  to  preserve  and  in- 
crease the  natural  appetite  of  the  mind, 
by  imparting  suitable  knowledge  in  a  suit- 
able way,  guiding  rather  than  forcing,  un- 
til at  last  the  intellect  becomes  strong, 
pliable,  full  of  initiative  and  resourceful- 
ness, and  is  set  free  from  preceptors, 
eager  and  able  to  stimulate  and  satisfy  its 
legitimate  tendencies. 

But  how  can  this  be  accomplished? 
Many  means  are  available.  Perhaps  Aris- 
totle gives  us  the  best  suggestion  in  their 
regard  by  stating  that  wisdom  has  its  be- 
ginning in  wonder.  The  old  sage  was 
right,  as  anybody  who  has  ever  seen  a  class 
of  boys  pass  from  a  lesson  in  calculus  to 


44         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

experiments  in  chemistry  or  physics  will 
realize.  Nodding  heads  are  prominent  in 
the  former  case,  bulging  eyes  in  the  second. 
Here  then  is  our  first  cue.  For  wonder  is 
the  mother  of  interest,  and  interest  fosters 
enthusiasm.  These  had,  half  the  difficulty 
in  education  is  overcome.  Therefore,  the 
first  effort  of  a  wise  teacher  should  be  to 
arouse  interest  and  enthusiasm  in  his  pu- 
pils. Now,  he  will  never  accomplish  this 
unless  he  himself  is  enthusiastic  over  his 
work.  Taskmasters  whose  only  ambition 
is  a  salary  can  never  draw  a  spark  from 
the  souls  of  the  young.  Drive  they  may, 
inspire  they  cannot.  The  teacher's  enthu- 
siasm depends  in  large  measure  on  his  love 
for  his  vocation  and  his  knowledge  of  his 
subject.  A  man  who  does  not  love  his  work 
should  give  it  up.  The  sooner  the  better, 
both  for  himself  and  his  charges.  But  love 
is  not  sufficient  for  success.  Knowledge 
of  the  matter  and  the  pupils  must  be  added 
to  it.  It  is  well-nigh  criminal  for  an  ig- 
norant person  to  enter  a  classroom.  It  is 
stupid  for  a  ready  man  to  teach  without 
due  regard  for  the  ability  and  character 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         45 

of  his  pupils.  In  both  cases  failure  will 
be  the  inevitable  result.  No  man  can  teach 
what  he  does  not  know  well,  and  no  man 
can  teach  what  he  does  know  well  to  those 
whom  he  does  not  know  well.  As  soon  as 
a  master  draws  near  the  edge  of  this  knowl- 
edge, his  manner  loses  vigor  and  conviction 
and  becomes  timid  and  halting.  Embar- 
rassment replaces  confidence,  and  embar- 
rassment is  contagious,  if  not  infectious. 
At  any  rate,  there  is  no  room  for  enthu- 
siasm in  such  a  situation.  Travel  over  a 
rugged  mountain  road  in  dim  twilight,  in 
charge  of  an  inexperienced  guide,  is  not 
exhilarating  either  for  the  guide  or  his 
company. 

The  teacher's  knowledge  should  be  broad 
and  accurate.  Mere  specialists  may  be 
very  well  in  their  place,  but  their  place  is 
not  the  class-room  of  a  high  school  or 
college.  Men  who  have  spent  the  forma- 
tive period  of  their  lives  under  them  look 
at  the  world  and  life  through  a  pin-hole. 
Moreover  few  specialists  are  good  teach- 
ers, few  are  even  good  conversationalists. 
They  are  apt  to  smack  a  bit  of  glorified, 


46         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

self-sufficient  mechanics.  Nor  is  it  enough 
to  know  only  the  pages  of  an  author.  Such 
a  knowledge  is  hardly  worthy  of  the  name. 
The  teacher  who  learns  mathematics  page 
by  page,  and  Homer  or  Virgil  line  by  line, 
without  assimilating  the  logic  of  the  one 
and  the  spirit  of  the  other,  is  an  insuffer- 
able bore.  The  work  he  does  could  be  done 
as  well  by  a  phonograph.  Mathematics 
and  literature  will  be  dead  things  in  his 
keeping.  He  will  teach  isolated  proposi- 
tion after  isolated  proposition,  and  his  pu- 
pils will  learn  isolated  propositions,  and 
that  will  be  the  end  of  it.  The  master  will 
never  think  of  pointing  out  sequences,  the 
relation  of  part  to  part,  the  logical  growth 
of  proofs.  Pivotal  propositions  will  be 
omitted  or  explained  without  reference  to 
their  consequences,  yet  it  is  precisely  in 
elements  of  this  kind  that  the  value  of 
mathematics  in  a  scheme  of  general  edu- 
cation lies.  Its  chief  function  is  to  train 
the  intellect  not  to  jump  in  the  dark,  but 
to  step  cautiously  and  on  firm  ground,  un- 
der full  light.  Disjecta  membra  torn  from 
a  finely  articulated  body  of  truth  will  never 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         47 

accomplish  that.  They  will  overload  the 
memory,  smother  the  reason. 

Nor  will  literature  fare  better.  Homer 
and  Virgil,  Cicero  and  Demosthenes,  Ju- 
venal and  Horace  will  be  searched  and  re- 
searched, ploughed  and  furrowed  for  ex- 
amples of  hendiadys  and  prolepsis,  and 
what  not,  all  good  in  their  places,  to  the 
utter  neglect  of  all  else.  The  hunter  stalks 
the  forest  and  uses  powder  and  shot  on  the 
mosquito,  while  the  deer  run  off  in  safety. 
Risum  teneatis,  amid! 

The  reason  for  this  is  ignorance,  or  indif- 
ference, or  both.  To  be  sure,  no  one  should 
underrate  grammar  and  rhetoric.  They 
are  necessary  and  powerful  factors  in  ed- 
ucation. Students  of  Greek,  for  instance, 
will  have  their  power  of  discrimination 
enormously  enlarged  by  an  intelligent  study 
of  conditional  sentences.  But  then  the 
sum  and  substance  of  education  does  not 
lie  in  the  ability  to  explain  a  grammatical 
puzzle,  or  to  turn  an  elegant  sentence,  for 
there  are  things  other  than  climaxes,  anti- 
climaxes, figures  and  metres  and  unities. 
There  are  higher  realities  than  these,  more 


48         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

subtle  agencies  of  power  and  expression. 
We  plead  for  them:  the  things  behind  the 
veil  of  language,  the  joys,  the  sorrows,  the 
comedies,  the  tragedies,  the  failures,  the 
successes,  the  virtues,  the  passions  of  life, 
that  they  may  enter  into  the  soul  and  stir 
it  and  inspire  it  and  smite  it  and  prick  it 
and  tease  it  and  harass  it  and  frighten  it ; 
in  short,  castigate  it.  For  these  we  plead : 
all  the  elements  of  art,  science,  life  which 
conduce  to  the  formation  of  a  man.  A 
corpse  is  uninspiring.  Literature  should 
not  be  converted  into  one.  It  should  be 
used  for  what  it  is,  a  record  of  the  live 
works  of  live  men.  Through  it  souls  should 
be  brought  into  contact  with  souls.  The  boy 
should  live  with  the  hero  ' 'four-square  to 
every  wind  that  blows,"  the  real  hero  un- 
idealized.  Fairies  which  peer  over  the 
garden  walls  of  the  lotus-eaters  interest 
none  save  poets  and  mystics. 

Thus  will  the  young  soul  grow.  It  can- 
not touch  life  without  response.  It  thinks 
the  better  from  experience  of  good  think- 
ing ;  it  aspires  the  higher  from  contact  with 
high  aspirations;  it  loves  the  better  from 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        49 

glimpses  of  pure  love ;  it  throbs  the  faster 
from  contact  with  strenuous  life.  It  ex- 
pands and  contracts,  adds  and  prunes  un- 
der the  inspiration  which  can  be  caught  up 
from  beneath  the  words  on  which  petti- 
fogging masters  spend  weary  hours,  only 
to  send  forth  pupils  with  the  physique  of 
giants  and  the  mind  and  character  of  suck- 
lings— Bless  the  mark! — both  marks, 
teacher  and  pupil,  too. 

But  this  is  only  the  first  means  of  rous- 
ing the  pupil  to  study.  There  are  some 
others  which  deserve  at  least  a  passing 
mention.  Amongst  these  are  numbered 
emulation,  prizes,  marks  and  punishments. 
The  first  two  claim  a  few  words ;  the  others 
can  be  treated  at  another  time. 

All  teachers  have  at  least  a  speculative 
knowledge  of  the  evils  which  can  attend  on 
emulation.  Many  writers  on  pedagogy, 
more  voluble  than  experienced,  have 
painted  them  in  vivid  colors.  But  then  it 
is  easy  enough  to  sit  clad  in  dressing-gown 
and  slippers  before  a  grate  fire,  formulate 
a  proposition,  dub  it  a  conclusion  and  in- 
vent arguments  to  support  it.  A  year  or 


50        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

two  of  classroom  drudgery  would  cure  this 
pernicious  habit.  Emulation  has  dangers. 
It  has  been  abused,  and  out  of  the  abuse 
have  grown  disgusting  egotism,  selfish- 
ness, unfairness,  jealousy,  pettiness  of  all 
kinds.  But  abuse  never  supersedes  use. 
Otherwise  we  should  be  obliged  to  give  up 
everything,  save  death.  Emulation  is  an 
instinct  with  youths,  and  cannot  be  obliter- 
ated save  by  converting  our  boys  into  mum- 
mies or  marble  statues.  Moreover,  it  is 
a  most  powerful  incentive  to  industry  and 
progress,  while  an  attempt  to  eradicate  it 
would  have  many  ridiculous  consequences. 
First,  repetitions  would  be  abolished ;  then, 
all  those  healthful  games  which  have  fos- 
tered and  developed  in  the  American  boy 
so  many  of  his  finest  qualities,  such  as  en- 
durance, bravery,  resourcefulness,  cour- 
tesy to  opponents  and  manliness  under  de- 
feat. Better  direct  it  into  ethical  channels, 
and  keep  it  there  until  through  it  the  boy 
has  developed  all  the  noble  characteristics 
for  which  it  offers  so  fine  a  chance.  This 
can  be  done  by  appealing  rather  to  interior 
than  exterior  motives.  For  true  emula- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         51 

tion  does  not  consist  so  much  in  trying  to 
outdo  another,  as  in  trying  to  outdo  one- 
self. Its  motive  is  not  chagrin  over  an- 
other's success,  but  a  noble,  unselfish  de- 
sire to  improve  one's  own  status.  The 
boy  should  be  taught  to  keep  his  eye  on 
his  own  record,  not  on  his  neighbor's,  with 
a  view  of  scoring  a  point  on  himself.  How- 
ever, exterior  motives  should  not  be  neg- 
lected entirely.  They  are  good,  especially 
those  which  appeal  to  the  instinct  for  play, 
and  tend  to  pit  a  large  number  against  a 
large  number,  not  one  against  one.  Emu- 
lation thus  managed  is  no  more  dangerous 
to  character  than  a  friendly,  unprofes- 
sional game  of  baseball  or  football. 

Prizes,  too,  have  come  in  for  their  share 
of  bitter  denunciation.  Here  again  use  is 
confounded  with  abuse.  In  themselves 
they  are  not  evil.  Even  our  Lord  held 
out  the  hope  of  reward,  temporal  and  eter- 
nal, to  those  who  were  fighting  the  battle 
of  life.  That  there  has  been  excess  in  this 
matter  is  only  too  patent.  In  some  places 
cheap  premiums  are  still  as  numerous  as 
they  were  last  century  in  "fitting  schools," 


52         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

where  young  ladies  learned  to  paint  woolly 
trees  and  speak  poor  French.  The  prize 
is  everything :  the  end  and  the  motive.  Of 
course,  this  is  baneful  in  the  extreme.  It 
places  the  pupil  in  a  false  atmosphere  by 
teaching  him  to  depend  entirely  on  reward 
and  not  on  duty,  honor  and  such  high  mo- 
tives. The  results  will  be  a  false  notion 
of  values,  consequent  on  the  undue  empha- 
sis which  has  been  placed  on  material  suc- 
cess; and  greed  and  unfairness,  and  all 
those  wretched  traits  observable  in  men 
who  measure  success  in  life  by  a  full  wallet 
and  the  possession  of  a  dozen  automobiles. 
But  all  this  is  reason,  not  for  the  abolition 
of  rewards,  but  for  their  prudent  use. 
They  are  good  in  their  place.  Let  them 
play  the  part  of  extremely  subordinate  mo- 
tives, and  be  of  such  a  kind  that  large  num- 
bers of  the  class  can  enter  the  competition 
for  them  with  hope  of  success,  and  their 
effect  will  be  salutary. 

In  conclusion,  every  good  method  of 
teaching  should  tend  to  arouse  interest  and 
enthusiasm  in  the  boy,  and  keep  both  at 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        58 

white  heat  until  all  the  complex  elements  of 
an  educated  man  have  begun  to  fasten 
themselves  securely  in  the  young  soul. 
Thus  will  teaching  be  fruitful  of  good. 


CHAPTER  V 


SUSTAINED  mental  alertness  has  at  least 
two  aggravating  characteristics.  It  is 
hard  to  acquire  and  difficult  to  retain. 
Yet  unless  a  teacher  succeeds  in  keeping 
the  intellects  of  his  pupils  active,  he  will 
labor  in  vain  to  educate  them.  Their 
minds  will  become  spongy.  A  process  of 
absorption  and  evaporation  will  set  in. 
Spontaneous  action  will  give  way  to  mech- 
anism. Growth  will  cease  and  with  it 
education.  Hence  a  conscientious  mas- 
ter must  bend  every  effort  to  preserve, 
strengthen  and  increase  the  interest  which 
he  has  aroused  in  his  pupils'  minds  at  the 
cost  of  so  much  thought  and  labor.  This 
can  only  be  done  by  constant  stimulus,  and 
since  no  one  can  give  what  he  does  not  pos- 
sess, the  teacher  must  first  of  all  keep  his 

54 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         55 

own  mind  fresh  and  active.  This  is  not 
an  easy  task.  On  the  contrary,  the  circum- 
stances of  a  teacher's  life  make  it  ex- 
tremely difficult.  Routine  and  monotony 
fall  to  the  share  of  workers  in  the  class- 
room in  full  measure.  The  former  weaves 
a  pall  to  cover  the  mind,  the  latter  frames 
a  mould  in  which  to  confine  or  encase  it. 
The  effect  is  stagnation,  which  is  often  aug- 
mented by  physical  inactivity  consequent 
on  advancing  years  or  indiscreet  bookish- 
ness. 

The  pall  and  the  mould  and  the  physical 
inactivity  must  have  no  part  in  a  teacher's 
life.  If  they  do,  he  will  become  a  veritable 
prig,  venerable  and  dignified  perchance, 
but  withal  statuesque  and  more  ornamental 
than  useful.  He  will  live  a  life  so  far  apart 
from  his  pupils'  that  they  will  look  upon 
him  as  a  relic  of  an  age  happily  past,  while 
he  in  turn  will  view  them  as  gnomes  or 
mimes  in  a  pantomime,  which  pass  and  re- 
pass  before  the  eye  much  after  the  fashion 
of  images  which  haunt  a  fever-racked 
brain.  Their  needs  and  moods  and  diffi- 
culties and  aspirations  will  never  enter  his 


56        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

horizon.  He  will  have  no  horizon,  or  if  he 
has,  it  will  be  low  and  narrow  and  alto- 
gether determined  by  his  own  personality. 
His  interests  will  be  himself.  He  will 
withdraw  within  himself  more  and  more 
each  day,  until  finally  he  will  spend  a  large 
part  of  his  time  in  pursuit  of  the  phantoms 
of  an  eccentric  soul.  No  very  great  power 
of  imagination  is  required  to  picture  the 
result.  He  will  lose  interest  in  his  boys, 
they  will  lose  interest  in  him  and  in  the 
principles  and  studies  of  which  he  is  the 
official  exponent. 

His  lectures  and  explanations  will  not 
vary  one  jot  or  tittle  from  year  to  year. 
They  will  be  reeled  off  phonographically 
without  change  of  tone,  without  gesture, 
without  facial  expression.  Everything 
will  fall  from  his  lips,  heavy,  unanimated 
and  uninspiring.  His  words  have  long 
since  ceased  to  be  the  language  of  a  soul 
rich  in  thought  and  fraught  with  noble 
emotions,  and  have  degenerated  into  a 
noise  as  interesting  as  the  buzz  of  bees  on 
an  oppressive  day.  Jokes  and  illustra- 
tions hoary  with  years  and  feeble  through 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         57 

constant  use  will  be  read  from  yellow  mar- 
gins of  ragged  note  books.  The  statue 
speaks  but — its  auditors  wish  it  far,  far 
away  in  another  world.  Their  inspiration 
comes  from  the  imp  which  hovers  near 
every  boy  and  never  fails  of  an  opportun- 
ity to  do  a  work  of  mischief.  The  mental 
stimulus  he  gives  is  not  unto  good.  Fail- 
ure to  educate  is  inevitable  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, and  that,  too,  simply  because 
the  teacher  has  fallen  into  a  rut  and  as  a 
result  has  become  entirely  impersonal  or 
offensively  personal.  For  an  automaton 
is  either  one  or  other,  according  to  the  dis- 
position and  viewpoint  of  the  spectator. 
This  point  cannot  be  labored  too  much. 
For  in  this  monotony  and  listlessness  lies 
a  teacher's  crux. 

All  good  teaching  is  intensely  alive  with 
a  commanding  personality.  To  be  success- 
ful, a  live,  noble  man  must  put  himself  into 
words.  He  must  strip  his  subject  matter 
clear  of  the  useless  accretions  of  centuries, 
modernize  it,  assimilate  it,  vitalize  it,  elec- 
trify it  into  life  and  send  it  from  his  heart 
vibrant,  palpitating,  enriched  with  life,  his 


58         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

life,  his  individuality.  Moreover  in  doing 
so  he  must  appeal  to  the  whole  man :  to  the 
eye  by  gesture  and  diagram  and  facial  ex- 
pression; to  the  ear  by  tones;  to  the  im- 
agination by  word  pictures ;  to  the  intellect 
by  simple,  cogent  reasoning ;  to  the  will  by 
moral  lessons,  the  greatest  of  which  is  his 
own  life.  For  the  man  is  to  be  trained,  not 
the  eye  nor  the  ear,  but  the  man,  the  whole 
creature,  composite  of  body  and  soul.  The 
problem  involved  in  this  can  be  solved  not 
by  books,  but  by  and  through  the  teacher 
only.  His  life  is  his  pupils'  life,  his 
stupor,  their  stupor. 

All  this  requires  great  and  persistent 
effort.  But  then  work  is  more  than  a 
teacher's  pleasure;  it  is  his  duty.  Teach- 
ers are  only  too  apt  to  forget  this.  As 
soon  as  they  begin  to  feel  tolerably  sure  of 
tenure  of  office  they  are  inclined  to  lapse 
into  utter  indifference,  which  they  justify 
to  themselves  by  ethics  as  fanciful  as  it  is 
ineffective.  For  plead  as  they  may,  the  ul- 
timate resolution  of  all  arguments  leaves 
untouched  the  hard  undeniable  fact  that 
prolonged,  wilful  neglect  on  the  part  of  a 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         59 

teacher  is  a  crime.  By  the  very  nature  of 
his  profession  he  has  entered  into  a  serious 
contract,  mediate  or  immediate,  by  which 
he  agrees  to  give  his  best  in  return  for  re- 
muneration. Wilful  neglect  constitutes  a 
deliberate  violation  of  this  serious  agree- 
ment and  no  amount  of  casuistry  can  jus- 
tify or  extenuate  the  offence.  It  is  useless 
to  argue  that  parents  expect  some  inef- 
ficiency. For  even  were  this  true,  it  is 
quite  beside  the  point.  Inefficiency  is  not 
neglect.  Moreover  in  this  matter  the 
teacher  himself  is  responsible  for  his  class. 
The  shadow  of  his  superior  officer  is  a  poor 
and  useless  refuge  for  him  in  his  guilt. 
The  work  is  his  to  do,  the  responsibility  his 
to  assume.  His  conscience,  though  cow- 
ardly enough  to  attempt  to  embed  its  dart 
in  another  soul,  cannot  unburden  itself. 
Guilt  is  there  and  will  remain  there.  The 
sooner  teachers  acknowledge  this  the  bet- 
ter for  themselves  and  their  charges.  For 
then  they  will  make  serious  efforts  to  fos- 
ter the  mental  freshness  and  activity  which 
are  so  necessary  for  effective  work. 
Frank  fellowship  with  older  and  younger 


60         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

people  is  a  valuable  aid  to  this.  It  opens 
up  two  new  points,  exposes  two  new  ex- 
periences, both  advantageous.  The  ex- 
periences of  the  older  enrich  us,  broaden 
us,  tempt  us  to  look  ahead  beyond  ourselves 
in  order  to  be  ready  for  future  emergen- 
cies. Those  of  the  young  show  us  that  we 
must  continually  readjust  ourselves  to 
changing  problems  and  conditions.  Clouds 
are  bad  points  of  vantage  for  educational 
work,  and  teachers  are  proverbially  fond 
of  living  in  the  clouds  and  working  there- 
from. Occasional  association  with  a 
younger  generation  will  dissipate  the  haze 
and  bring  the  dignified  professor  to  earth, 
in  time  to  render  at  least  a  portion  of  his 
life  useful  to  those  to  whom  he  has  conse- 
crated the  whole  of  it.  Aloofness  is  a  bad 
asset  for  a  man  who  would  train  boys.  For 
they  change  with  changing  years.  The 
boy  of  to-day  is  not  the  boy  of  ten  years  ago 
and  much  less  is  he  the  boy  of  twenty  or 
twenty-five  years  ago.  He  is  of  quite  a 
different  species.  Hence  methods  which 
were  effective  in  eighteen  hundred  and 
eighty  are  apt  to  be  grotesque  in  the  year  of 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         61 

grace  nineteen  hundred  and  fourteen. 
Yet  those  old  ways  and  means  are  only  too 
often  in  vogue  with  consequences  that  are 
at  once  pitiable  and  ludicrous. 

To  fellowship  with  others  the  teacher 
should  add  judicious  reading  in  subjects 
that  do  not  bear  directly  on  his  matter. 
He  must  forget  his  specialty  once  in  a 
while,  or  else  it  will  degenerate  into  a  poor 
hobby,  and  then  his  thoughts  and  desires 
and  words  will  be  all  of  a  piece.  His  sub- 
ject will  be  the  be-all  and  end-all  of  his  ex- 
istence and  other  existences.  He  will  have 
one  thought,  no  more,  and  a  dry  one  it  will 
be,  at  least  for  others  if  not  for  himself. 
His  mind  will  be  warped,  his  life  dom- 
inated, not  dominating.  Though  this  is 
the  result  of  all  imprudent  specialization, 
yet  it  is  strongly  characteristic  of  exclusive 
attention  to  the  exact  sciences.  They  nar- 
row the  mental  compass,  stifle  emotion,  kill 
the  aesthetic  sense,  convert  a  man  into  an 
overbearing  bigot.  Darwin  lived  to  lament 
that  he  could  not  appreciate  a  poem.  A 
page  of  Huxley  is  as  narrow  as  a  code  of 
laws  devised  by  a  pious  maiden  aunt  for  an 


62         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

obstreperous  nephew.  Both  men  rode  a 
hobby  to  the  edge  of  their  graves,  into 
which  they  fell  mentally  cramped  by  con- 
tinual application  to  one  subject. 

Broad  reading  will  prevent  this  and  will 
besides  furnish  the  teacher  with  informa- 
tion and  schemes  which  will  make  his  class- 
room a  pleasant  and  a  useful  place  for  the 
young.  Interest-awakening  resources  will 
never  fail  him.  He  will  be  ready  to  turn  a 
thousand  incidents  of  everyday  life  to  the 
benefit  of  his  class.  The  eruption  of  a 
Pelee  or  a  Vesuvius  will  prompt  him  to  lead 
his  pupils  through  Pliny's  description  of 
a  similar  incident.  The  burning  of  a  San 
Francisco  or  a  Baltimore  will  find  him 
ready  to  explain  Tacitus'  picture  of  the 
burning  of  Eome.  And  as  collateral  mat- 
ter he  will  have  at  hand  the  conflagration 
in  "Barnaby  Budge,"  Headley's  truly  re- 
markable description  of  the  destruction  of 
Moscow,  Fouard's  still  more  wonderful  ac- 
count of  the  burning  of  Jerusalem,  and  oth- 
ers no  less  interesting.  An  outbreak  of 
bubonic  plague  or  cholera  will  remind  him 
of  Thucydides '  plague  of  Athens,  which  he 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        63 

will  supplement  by  Defoe's  "  Plague  of 
London,"  Gasquet's  " Black  Death"  or 
Manzoni's  Plague  of  Milan  and  the  wreck 
of  a  Titanic  will  introduce  his  class  to  the 
Dickens  shipwreck,  and  so  on  for  all  but 
innumerable  incidents,  not  excluding  the 
Sicilian  earthquake,  whose  counterpart  he 
will  discover  in  Thucydides. 

Everything  will  be  alive  to  such  a  man. 
For  he  himself  is  alive,  and  life  flows  from 
him  into  his  subjects.  Neither  he  nor  his 
pupils  will  complain  that  the  classics  are 
old,  lifeless,  uninteresting.  He  will  put 
youth  and  life  and  interest  into  them. 
Bather  he  will  find  all  three  there.  For 
they  are  there.  Life  is  ever  young,  active 
and  interesting.  Who,  pray,  more  modern 
than  Horace  and  Juvenal, ' '  dead  songsters 
who  never  die  "  ?  A  deft  and  slight  change 
here  and  there  and  their  satires  could  be 
read  from  hustings  in  Baltimore,  New 
York,  Boston,  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  San 
Francisco,  to  the  delight  even  of  the  rabble. 
Samuel  Johnson  recognized  Juvenal's 
adaptability  in  his  day  and  recooked  him  in 
"London"  and  "The  Vanity  of  Human 


64         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

Wishes. "  A  Viennese,  a  Parisian  and  a 
Gothamite  could  do  the  same  with  profit 
to-day. 

But  freshness  and  mental  activity  in  a 
teacher  avail  little  unless  he  is  skilful  in 
exposition.  Herein  lies  a  difficulty.  The 
golden  mean  is  hard  to  grasp.  Some  men 
assign  lessons  by  pages  without  a  word  of 
advice  or  explanation.  Such  have  missed 
their  vocation.  It  is  unprofitable  to  dis- 
cuss their  case.  Death  or  resignation 
alone  can  cure  them.  Others  again  out  of 
pure  zeal  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and 
leave  nothing  to  the  energy  and  ingenuity 
of  the  pupils.  This  is  a  grievous  mistake. 
It  stifles  originality,  checks  initiative,  con- 
verts lads  into  intellectual  paupers  who  will 
never  learn  to  think  or  do  for  themselves. 
Good  teachers  should  never  do  for  a  boy 
what  the  boy  can  and  should  do  for  him- 
self. They  are  not  foolish,  doting  moth- 
ers, and  let  them  remember  that  "male 
mothers"  are  queer,  contemptible  creatures 
even  in  boys*  eyes.  The  master's  duty  is 
to  make  the  boy  active,  self-reliant,  re- 
sourceful. This  can  be  accomplished  only 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         65 

by  throwing  the  boy  on  his  own  resources 
as  far  as  is  consistent  with  prudence.  The 
forest  guide  does  not  train  his  novices  by 
blindfolding  them  and  carrying  them 
through  successive  thickets  on  his  shoul- 
ders. He  teaches  them  to  beat  their  way 
through  the  bush  and  briar  at  the  cost  of 
pain.  The  mother  bird  does  not  get  her 
fledgling  to  fly  by  putting  it  on  her  back  and 
soaring  aloft  with  it.  She  tempts  it  to  try 
even  dangerous  feats  of  flight  that  it  may 
learn  to  wing  its  way  safely  through  the 
mazes  which  will  beset  its  after  years. 

Teachers  can  learn  from  guide  and 
mother  bird  that  education  is  begun  and 
consummated  in  travail.  It  is  unjust  and 
absurd  to  shield  a  boy  from  all  painful  ef- 
fort. When  his  strivings  are  intelligent, 
he  should  be  allowed  to  struggle  to  the  last 
ditch.  The  mill  of  pain  and  the  press  of 
sacrifice  are  required  to  make  a  man. 

Without  them  the  soul  is  only  half  itself, 
a  dwarfed,  stunted  thing  in  bonds  which  it 
cannot  break.  Story  writers  tell  us,  and 
how  old  the  tale!  that  one  day  a  tender- 
hearted naturalist  happened  upon  a  but- 


66        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

terfly  striving  to  free  itself  from  the  co- 
coon. After  great  effort  it  cast  off  all  im- 
pediments to  freedom  except  one  slender 
thread,  which  offered  stubborn  resistance. 
In  pity  for  the  creature's  apparent  help- 
lessness, the  scientist  cut  the  thread  and 
released  the  butterfly,  which  fluttered 
gaily  for  a  moment  and  then  fell  dead. 
The  last  effort  for  release  was  necessary 
for  life.  Such  was  nature's  inexorable 
law,  and  nature  violated,  avenged  itself  in 
the  death  of  the  insect.  False  sympathy 
was  its  undoing. 

Greater  calamities  happen  in  the  class- 
room for  like  reasons.  Nature's  law  is 
violated,  intellectual  and  oftentimes  moral 
death  follow.  Better  that  the  teacher 
study  the  future  and  contemplate  the 
seething  arena  of  life  into  which  his  pupils 
are  soon  to  be  cast.  From  his  contempla- 
tion he  will  learn  that  victory  belongs  to  the 
alert  and  resolute.  The  alert  and  resolute 
he  must  form  then.  Otherwise  he  will  unfit 
his  pupils  for  life.  Under  his  tutelage  they 
will  dream  a  long  dream,  but  the  awakening 
will  come,  and  it  will  be  rude  indeed.  The 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         67 

illusion  will  be  great,  readjustment  to  puz- 
zling and  unsuspected  conditions,  impos- 
sible. There  will  be  another  wreck  on  the 
highway  of  life,  another  tragedy  fateful 
beyond  telling.  A  soul  will  be  over- 
whelmed, perhaps  forever.  The  seeds  of 
ruin  were  sown  and  nourished  years  be- 
fore in  the  classroom.  The  tragedy  began 
not  on  the  highway,  but  under  the  eye  of 
the  teacher,  the  savior  of  men.  Vae,  hom- 
ini!  But  all  this  will  be  avoided  if  the 
teacher  continually  lives  a  sturdy,  noble 
life,  intellectual  and  moral,  and  communi- 
cates it  to  his  charges.  Interest  aroused, 
interest  preserved,  here  is  the  one  way  of 
accomplishing  this  sublime  work. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  METHOD  AND  FUNCTION  OF 
RECITATION 

GOOD  teaching  embraces  many  diverse 
elements.  All  of  them  are  important  in 
some  degree  or  other.  Eecitation  is 
amongst  the  most  important.  A  master's 
work  does  not  end  with  explanations,  how- 
ever good  and  varied.  For  after  he  has 
given  the  best  that  he  knows  in  the  best 
possible  way,  he  still  has  a  grave  duty  to- 
wards his  pupils.  He  must  see  what  effect 
his  instructions  are  having  on  their  minds. 
For  though  he  may  work  with  great  skill 
and  diligence,  yet  it  is  just  possible  that, 
for  some  reason  or  other,  the  stream  of 
knowledge  which  flows  from  him  may  pass 
into  the  intellect  of  his  charges,  be  impeded 
in  its  course  for  a  moment,  and  then  flow 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         69 

on  and  out,  leaving  the  mind  as  arid  and 
fruitless  as  ever. 

This  should  be  corrected  in  the  very  be- 
ginning. Otherwise  it  will  work  incalcu- 
lable harm  to  pupil  and  teacher  alike,  caus- 
ing stagnation  in  the  one  and  a  feeling  akin 
to  despair  in  the  other.  The  corrective 
lies  in  intelligent  recitations,  oral  and  writ- 
ten. This  is  apparent  from  the  very  na- 
ture and  function  of  the  recitation.  For 
there  is  no  instrument  more  capable  of 
testing  and  training  the  mind.  Its  aim  is 
not  merely  to  gauge  a  pupil's  knowledge. 
It  has  a  value  above  and  beyond  this.  By 
skilful  use  it  becomes  a  wonderful  agent 
for  correction  of  mental  defects  and  defi- 
ciencies. It  promotes  introspection,  en- 
genders habits  of  correct  and  orderly 
thought,  and  guides  the  mind  into  new 
channels  of  unsuspected  lore.  Moreover, 
it  inspires  to  better  work,  and  easily  falls 
in  with  the  teacher's  chief  purpose  by  as- 
sisting in  the  moulding  of  character,  giv- 
ing as  it  does,  mental  poise  and  resource- 
fulness in  difficult  circumstances,  two  aids 
to  calmness,  frankness  and  courtesy.  The 


70        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

teacher  crowns  his  work  by  conducting 
skilful  recitations,  the  pupil  profits  im- 
measurably by  them. 

But  which  way  of  carrying  them  out  is 
best  calculated  to  effect  all  this1?  Nature 
holds  the  key  to  the  answer  once  again. 
She  must  be  consulted  first,  before  any  def- 
inite plans  can  be  inaugurated  with  profit. 
A  glance  at  an  illustration  may  betray  her 
secret  to  us.  Two  little  boys  go  forth  to 
recreation.  One  is  a  matter-of-fact  chap, 
practical  to  a  fault.  Presently  he  begins 
to  build  a  toy  house.  He  works  slowly  and 
thoughtfully,  examining  now  his  material, 
now  the  ungainly  structure.  He  compares 
piece  with  piece,  selects  the  wood  best 
suited  to  each  emergency,  saws  it  here, 
shaves  it  there,  until  finally  it  suits  his  pur- 
pose. At  last  by  dint  of  much  ingenious 
if  awkward  work  he  tops  off  his  castle  with 
a  chimney  and  then  stands  back  to  contem- 
plate his  masterpiece  and  to  soliloquize 
about  it.  His  words  reveal  an  ambition 
to  become  a  man  overnight  and  build  a 
whole  village  of  "real"  houses  after  the 
pattern  of  the  model  before  him.  Act  and 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        71 

speech  have  enabled  us  to  follow  the  men- 
tal process  of  the  lad  from  beginning  to 
end.  He  proceeded  by  slow  and  laborious 
steps  from  particular  to  universal,  ending 
by  bringing  his  knowledge  into  relation 
with  life. 

In  the  meantime  the  other  boy  is  look- 
ing on  with  supreme  unconcern,  or  per- 
chance disgust.  He  will  have  no  part  with 
such  jobbery.  His  mind  is  rebellious 
against  the  narrowness  of  the  thought- 
process  required  for  it  and  impatient  of 
the  details  involved.  Soon  some  other 
lads  join  the  two.  Immediately  the  silent 
fellow  takes  on  new  life.  His  tongue  is 
unleashed,  and  he  suggests  that  all  play  at 
Indian.  He  is  to  act  as  chief,  and  as  such 
begins  instructions  for  the  game.  His 
talk,  though  quite  inconsequent,  is  filled 
with  imagery.  Mountains  and  valleys  and 
animals  and  warriors  are  all  mentioned  in 
turn.  Soon  the  game  is  on,  led  by  the 
chief,  who  proves  himself  entirely  differ- 
ent from  the  potential  contractor.  He  is 
unpractical  and  imaginative  and  a  bit  wild 
of  concept. 


72         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

Here  we  have  two  types  of  minds  with 
which  the  teacher  has  to  deal,  and  from 
them  we  get  a  clue  to  the  two  main  meth- 
ods of  recitation :  one  the  Socratic  method, 
betrayed  by  the  builder ;  the  other,  the  topic 
method,  revealed  by  the  little  Indian.  The 
first  of  these,  which  is  most  useful  in  train- 
ing young  minds,  and  careless  and  incon- 
sequent and  highly  imaginative  minds,  re- 
quires special  tact  and  preparation.  If  a 
to.  oher  would  be  successful  in  its  use,  he 
must  canvass  his  matter  carefully,  separate 
the  important  from  the  unimportant  ele- 
ments, pitch  upon  the  main  idea,  pick  out 
the  principal  difficulty  of  the  lesson,  and 
;  -range  in  his  mind  a  set  of  clear,  logical 
qaestions  which  lead  gradually  to  the  very 
heart  of  the  subject.  On  obtaining  appro- 
priate answers,  he  must  propose  difficul- 
ties suitable  to  the  age  and  attainments  of 
his  pupils.  The  more  modern  and  novel 
these  objections  are,  the  better,  for  then 
they  will  surely  coordinate  knowledge  with 
life. 

This  done  the  repetition  is  over.  But 
this  is  only  an  outline  of  the  process.  A 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        73 

close  examination  of  it  will  be  of  profit. 
Naturally  the  questions  call  for  first  con- 
sideration. These  should  be,  above  all,  di- 
rect, clear,  orderly  and  progressive,  the 
easier  and  more  fundamental  first,  the  dif- 
ficult and  more  general  next.  This  last 
caution  has  its  justification  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  science  itself.  For  science,  the  ob- 
jective body  of  correlated  truths,  has  a  cer- 
tain fixed  order.  There  is  subordination 
and  coordination  of  truth  to  truth.  S^raie 
truths  are  fundamental,  some  pivotal,  some 
top  the  structure.  This  order  moreover 
should  be  respected,  so  that  the  mind  can 
proceed  in  logical  fashion  from  simple  to 
more  complex,  from  particular  to  gener.3^ 
and  thus  assimilate  and  retain,  not  ouus 
and  ends,  but  an  articulated,  compact  sys- 
tem of  truth.  This  should  be  the  aim  and 
result  of  intelligent  recitation.  For  it 
should  be  constructive  not  destructive. 
Sometimes  of  course  it  must  begin  in  de- 
struction but  it  should  not  end  there.  If 
idols  are  smashed,  something  better  should 
be  put  in  their  place.  There  is  nothing 
more  discouraging  to  a  boy  than  to  have 


74        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

his  mind  swept  clear  of  all  knowledge  by 
a  whirlwind  of  questions,  or  filled  with  the 
debris  of  the  framework  of  science,  which 
he  had  erected  at  the  cost  of  great  labor. 
Cui  bono  will  soon  become  a  motto.  Such 
a  process  is  all  the  more  lamentable  for  the 
fact  that  it  is  unnecessary.  A  great  part 
of  the  knowledge  which  was  swept  away 
could  have  been  saved.  Perhaps  all  that 
was  required  was  a  deft  excision  here  and 
there,  and  some  rearrangement.  But 
granted  the  worst,  that  nothing  could  be 
preserved.  Then  at  least  the  bad  could 
have  been  replaced  by  the  good,  and  dis- 
couragement offset.  The  mind  which  is 
visited  by  a  destroying  tornado  once  a  day, 
or  even  once  a  week,  creeps  from  discour- 
agement to  despair,  from  despair  to  de- 
fiance, and  from  defiance  to  ruin.  Teach- 
ers who  as  a  rule  do  not  attempt  to  leave 
knowledge  and  encouragement,  or  at  least 
some  stimulus  to  better  things,  in  the  wake 
of  their  recitations,  are  building  up  with 
their  left  hand  and  tearing  down  with  their 
right. 

Sometimes  the  whole  difficulty  with  reci- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        75 

tation  lies  in  the  questions.  In  framing 
them  no  consideration  is  given  to  the  fact 
that  old  knowledge  which  the  boy  surely 
has  is  a  starting  point  for  new  conquests. 
Then  again  they  are  often  either  obscure 
or  so  transparent  that  they  bear  the  an- 
swer on  the  surface.  It  is  hard  to  decide 
which  of  these  last  is  the  worse.  They  are 
at  least  equally  bad.  The  former  puzzle, 
harass,  discourage  and  lead  nowhere,  save 
perhaps  into  blind  alleys.  The  latter  in- 
duce mental  inactivity,  thus  defeating  the 
very  purpose  of  education.  The  questions 
should  rouse  the  mind  to  great  activity, 
put  it  on  its  mettle  without  taxing  it  too 
much,  involve  it  in  difficulties  from  which  it 
should  be  forced  to  extricate  itself  with  the 
least  possible  external  aid.  This  is  train- 
ing. 

Valuable  as  is  the  form  and  nature  of 
the  questions,  there  is  something  even  more 
important  in  this  kind  of  recitation,  and 
that  is  the  deduction  of  general  conclu- 
sions and  laws.  During  the  whole  process 
of  quizzing,  the  boy's  mind  should  be  re- 
flecting, comparing  knowledge  with  knowl- 


76        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

edge,  piecing  this  and  that  together,  until 
finally  it  is  led  to  draw  a  universal  judg- 
ment and  establish  a  law.  This  is  vital. 
For  after  all,  science  is  founded  on  the 
universal.  Though  we  may  not  fully  agree 
with  Kant's  Anschauungen  Begriffe  sind 
blind,  yet  we  must  confess  that  singular 
and  even  particular  judgments  add  very 
little  to  the  store  of  scientific  knowledge. 
Hence  the  recitation  should  culminate,  if 
possible,  in  a  general  conclusion.  Up  to 
this  point  the  process  will  have  been  mainly 
inductive.  The  mind  proceeded  step  by 
step,  piece  by  piece,  joining  item  to 
item,  until  by  inference  it  passed  to  a  gen- 
eral law. 

A  new  process  can  now  be  brought  into 
play  with  extreme  advantage.  The  intel- 
lect can  be  made  both  to  survey  the  whole 
chain  of  knowledge  which  it  has  formed 
and  to  contemplate  all  its  ramifications. 
Skilful  objections  will  accomplish  this  by 
bringing  the  mind  to  a  realization  of  the 
bearing  of  link  on  link,  by  pointing  out  the 
connection  of  this  chain  to  others,  and  by 
showing  its  value,  its  use.  Thus  the  rela- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        77 

tion  of  fact  to  fact,  law  to  law,  science  to 
science,  will  stand  revealed.  This  can  be 
accomplished  by  the  self-activity  of  the 
pupil's  intellect.  Thus  the  young  mind, 
naturally  unreflective  and  tenacious  of  er- 
ror, will  be  made  to  feel  its  power.  Thus 
will  it  be  expanded,  stimulated,  inspired  to 
new  and  higher  conquests. 

The  teacher,  too,  will  profit  by  this 
method.  It  will  force  him  to  prepare  for 
his  classes  intelligently.  He  will  learn  to 
concentrate  his  mind  on  the  main  issue, 
which  he  will  always  keep  before  him  in  his 
explanations,  leading  up  to  it  and  away 
from  it  in  a  clear,  orderly  manner.  He 
will  subordinate  his  illustrations  to  it,  solve 
difficulties  in  reference  to  it.  In  this  way 
he  will  develop  a  keener  sense  of  propor- 
tion, and  will  hold  to  a  direct,  open  course, 
free  from  those  wretched  aberrations  to 
which  all  of  us  are  accustomed. 

Good  as  is  this  method,  it  is  yet  liable  to 
abuse.  In  the  hands  of  some  men  it  is  lit- 
tle better  than  an  instrument  of  torture. 
Procrustes  of  old  tried  to  make  all  his  vis- 
itors fit  into  one  bed;  some  teachers,  in 


78        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

imitation  of  this  crude,  uncomfortable  bar- 
barism, try  to  make  all  minds  fit  into  one 
mould.  They  must  get  back  what  they 
gave  forth  in  the  order,  and  sometimes  also 
in  the  very  words  in  which  it  was  given. 
Their  questions  play  the  part  of  a  relent- 
less vise  which  squeezes  all  individuality 
and  originality  out  of  the  mind.  Thus 
forms  and  words  and  pages  of  books  will 
be  exalted  above  thought  and  mental  ac- 
tivity. Likely  enough,  pupils  will  go  away 
from  such  men  poor  replicas  of  poor 
types.  But  such  an  abuse  is  its  own  con- 
demnation. It  is  too  enormous  to  require 
discussion,  and  does  not  in  any  way  affect 
the  intrinsic  value  of  the  Socratic  method, 
which  can  be  put  to  excellent  use,  especially 
in  the  exact  sciences  and  in  the  case  of 
flighty,  imaginative,  careless  minds  which 
stand  in  need  of  a  severe  discipline. 

But  this  method  is  not  the  only  one  at 
the  teacher's  disposal.  Three  others  re- 
main. From  them  we  have  chosen  one,  al- 
ready mentioned,  the  topic  method,  for 
consideration.  This  consists  in  choosing 
from  the  lesson  important  topics  or  items 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         79 

and  proposing  them  for  discussion.  The 
discussion,  however,  should  be  carried  on 
by  the  pupil,  not  by  the  teacher.  The  lat- 
ter may  guide  it  by  prudent  suggestions, 
but  he  should  not  lead  it.  If  he  is  skilful 
in  this  work,  the  process  will  promote  in- 
sight, imaginative  power  and  coherence  of 
thought.  Moreover  it  will  help  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  a  choice  vocabulary  and  in  the 
promotion  of  readiness  of  speech  and  pre- 
cision of  expression.  If  on  the  other  hand 
the  method  is  used  carelessly,  disadvan- 
tages too  numerous  and  obvious  for  discus- 
sion will  follow.  Verboseness,  inconse- 
quence and  slovenliness  of  thought,  inex- 
actness of  expression,  are  but  a  small 
fraction  of  them. 

Yet  the  teacher  should  not  be  deterred 
from  using  the  method  by  the  catalogue  of 
evils.  It  is  most  useful  in  the  training  of 
hard,  dry,  practical,  unimaginative  minds. 
Moreover,  it  enables  the  master  to  get  a 
quick  and  correct  estimate  of  his  pupil's 
intellect.  A  boy  cannot  discourse  for  long 
on  any  topic  without  betraying  his  limita- 
tions. The  teacher  will  soon  be  able  to 


80         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

discover  a  weak  imagination  here,  a  riot- 
ous one  there,  superficiality  in  this  one, 
disorder  in  another,  now  stolidity  and  self- 
assurance,  again  timidity  and  a  mental 
nervousness  which  causes  the  mind  to  leap 
aimlessly  from  topic  to  topic  as  a  caged 
and  frightened  bird  flits  from  perch  to 
perch.  With  this  knowledge  in  hand  the 
master  can  easily  adapt  himself  to  indi- 
vidual needs  and  dispositions. 

As  is  clear,  both  the  Socratic  and  the 
topic  method  can  also  be  conducted  in  writ- 
ing. These  written  exercises  and  others 
of  a  different  kind  are  of  great  importance. 
Should  any  one  doubt  this,  he  can  read 
with  profit  the  humorous  and  illuminating 
chapters  on  " Elementary  Studies"  in 
Newman's  ''Idea  of  a  University."  But 
our  paper  is  not  concerned  either  with  the 
value  of  themes  or  their  structure,  but 
rather  with  their  correction.  Stupid  sys- 
tems of  recension  deprive  themes  of  half 
their  value  as  a  medium  of  education. 
Teachers  mark  mistakes  in  red,  green  and 
blue,  and  give  back  the  papers  to  the  pu- 
pils, and  there  the  matter  ends.  The  boy 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         81 

never  knows  his  mistakes,  or  if  he  does, 
he  never  takes  pains  to  correct  them.  So 
year  after  year  he  commits  the  same  er- 
rors, and  finally  goes  forth  from  school  to 
become  a  blundering  doctor  or  lawyer  or 
spiritual  adviser.  For  long-standing  men- 
tal defects  are  seldom  eradicated. 

The  case  would  be  different  if  the  teach- 
er's work  were  intelligent.  But  it  becomes 
intelligent  only  when  the  boy  is  led  to  cor- 
rect his  own  mistakes.  Score  the  theme 
in  red,  blue  and  green  by  all  means,  but 
insist  that  it  be  returned  corrected  by  the 
one  who  made  the  scoring  necessary.  In 
this  way  the  boy  will  be  forced  to  think. 
He  will  reflect  and  compare  and  analyze, 
and  call  upon  old  knowledge  to  meet  new 
emergencies.  He  will  worry  out  old  mean- 
ings under  new  forms,  trace  sequences,  de- 
pendencies of  clause  on  clause,  note  struc- 
ture of  sentences,  match  idioms,  learn  to 
distinguish  between  shades  of  meaning, 
think,  diagnose  a  case,  and  carry  the  habit 
thus  formed  into  law,  or  medicine,  or  the 
priesthood,  or  business,  where  it  is  of  su- 
preme moment. 


CHAPTER  VII 
DISCIPLINE 

EFFICIENT  mental  and  moral  training 
depends,  to  a  large  extent,  on  good  disci- 
pline. For  on  the  one  hand,  disorder  dis- 
tracts and  disconcerts  the  teacher  and 
wastes  his  energy,  while  on  the  other,  it 
renders  impossible  the  attention  and  calm- 
ness of  mind,  without  which  pupils  can 
neither  acquire  nor  retain  knowledge. 
Moreover  boys  cannot  live  long  in  an  at- 
mosphere of  riot  without  moral  hurt. 
Their  ideals  are  shattered  and  their  wills 
either  become  wayward  or  grow  slack  of 
purpose  and  effort.  In  their  disrespect 
for  the  representative  of  authority  they 
learn  to  despise  authority  itself.  Eevolt 
against  the  master  is  often  a  prelude  to 
formal  contempt  of  the  office  and  power  of 
all  superiors.  The  consequences  of  this 

82 


are  serious  enough  to  make  every  teacher 
take  thought  about  his  responsibility  for 
them.  Without  doubt  he  has  a  far-reach- 
ing duty  in  this  matter  which  he  cannot 
neglect.  For  his  office  obliges  him  to  dis- 
cipline, not  precisely  that  he  may  teach 
with  ease  and  comfort  to  himself,  but 
rather  that  he  may  train  the  souls  of  his 
pupils. 

To  do  this  effectively,  the  teacher  must 
first  discipline  himself.  The  undisciplined 
master  is  the  centre  and  source  of  a  vast 
amount  of  the  disorder  so  common  in  the 
class-rooms.  His  defects  and  deficiencies 
react  on  those  in  his  charge  and  drive  them 
to  contumely,  for  which  they  had  no  nat- 
ural inclination  in  the  beginning.  Boys 
will  not  tolerate  a  noisy  demagogue,  nor  a 
poor  punster,  any  more  than  they  will 
abide  an  irascible  tyrant,  whose  chief  dis- 
tinction lies,  not  in  brains,  but  in  strong 
muscles  and  a  bass  voice.  Their  young 
lives  may  be  made  miserable,  but  they  will 
demand  and  get  the  pound  of  flesh,  and  the 
blood,  too.  In  the  end  they  will  be  the 
masters.  The  good  disciplinarian  then 


84         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

must  himself  be  disciplined.  The  man 
who  has  not  subjugated  himself  cannot  ex- 
pect to  rule  others.  He  has  failed  to  con- 
quer the  one  closest  to  himself,  and  has  no 
reason  to  expect  success  in  governing  those 
separated  from  him  by  the  widest  and  most 
unintelligible  of  all  finite  gulfs,  a  different 
personality. 

Hence,  the  first  task  of  every  young 
teacher  is  the  conquest  of  his  own  heart. 
He  must  begin  by  recognizing  frankly  his 
faults  and  rooting  them  out.  On  investi- 
gation he  will  probably  find  that  he  is  im- 
mensely impressed  by  his  own  learning, 
dignity  and  importance.  Of  course,  his 
pupils'  impressions  will  not  be  half  so  in- 
tense and  flattering.  This  will  soon  be- 
come apparent.  Then  the  young  teacher's 
soul  will  begin  to  smart  under  disappoint- 
ment, and  unless  he  has  a  care  he  will  be- 
tray himself  lamentably.  For  vanity  does 
not  brook  dark  corners  and  places  below 
stairs.  It  insists  on  living  in  the  open,  and 
is  as  ingenious  as  a  sensational  preacher 
in  attracting  notice  to  itself.  Anger, 
sarcasm,  injustice,  cheap  politics,  and  a 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         85 

thousand  other  petty  vices  and  schemes 
are  its  shameless  instruments.  It  ob- 
trudes itself  on  the  notice  of  the  pupils  in 
the  most  offensive  ways,  until  finally — 
Blessings  on  their  manly  spirit! — they 
take  matters  into  their  own  hands,  roughly 
perhaps,  but  effectively.  The  teacher  is  to 
blame  for  all  this.  He  has  created  the  dis- 
order, and  will  father  more,  unless  he  ap- 
plies the  knife  to  his  soul.  He  must  cut 
away  anger,  for  it  darkens  counsel,  and 
put  up  in  its  place  calmness,  which  has  a 
majesty  about  it,  at  once  attractive  and 
compelling.  That  done,  he  is  ready  for 
new  excisions  and  new  acquisitions. 

Softness,  favoritism,  undue  suspicious- 
ness,  the  most  contemptible  of  all  petty 
vices,  and  that  fox-like  animal  astuteness 
which,  no  doubt,  has  been  mirrored  in  the 
face  of  every  man  who  ever  harbored  it  in 
his  heart,  from  Judas  to  the  last  of  the 
tribe,  must  be  replaced  by  the  sturdy, 
frank,  wholesome  manliness  which  com- 
mands the  respect  and  admiration  of  every- 
body worthy  of  an  education,  or  even  con- 
sideration. The  teacher  who  does  this  has 


86 

made  a  great  stride  towards  success  in  dis- 
cipline. He  has  few  or  no  natural  defects 
on  which  boys  can  play,  to  his  chagrin  and 
consequent  undoing.  He  will  be  prudent 
and  forceful  in  thought  and  action. 
Though  boys  may  not  cringe  before  him, 
yet  they  will  not  lead  him  by  a  chain. 
They  will  troop  on  by  his  side,  happy  in 
his  inspiration  and  leadership. 

So  far  we  have  been  looking  at  the  disci- 
plinarian from  one  angle  only.  There  is 
another  view-point  which  presents  a  new 
aspect.  For  disorder  can  also  arise  from 
poor,  uninteresting  teaching.  As  soon  as 
a  boy  loses  interest  in  his  studies  he  be- 
comes a  problem  to  his  teacher.  He  must 
be  busy.  If  he  is  not  intent  on  his  books 
he  will  be  intent  on  mischief.  The  pru- 
dent master  recognizes  this  and  does  his 
best  to  keep  his  pupils '  minds  concentrated 
on  their  work.  With  this  intent  he  studies 
his  boys  and  adapts  himself  to  their  needs. 
He  never  imposes  tasks  beyond  their  men- 
tal and  physical  endurance.  He  aims  at 
clear,  "snappy"  explanations.  His  eye 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        87 

is  ever  alert  for  the  first  signs  of  restless- 
ness, which  he  is  quick  to  suppress  by 
change  of  work  or  greater  clearness,  or  re- 
newed vigor  of  manner.  His  recitations 
are  always  times  of  mild  surprises.  His 
pupils  never  know  how  or  when  they  are 
to  be  called  upon  to  recite.  They  never 
feel  quite  safe.  They  are  conscious  that 
a  call  in  the  beginning  of  a  lesson  does  not 
mean  immunity  for  the  rest  of  that  lesson. 
If  there  are  six  recitations  they  are  liable 
to  be  called  upon  in  all.  They  have  no  time 
to  plot  mischief,  none  even  to  indulge  the 
luxury  of  a  day-dream.  They  must  be 
alert  the  whole  day.  Such  conditions  safe- 
guard boy  and  teacher  alike. 

Just  here  one  may  object  that  these  prin- 
ciples are  a  bit  too  narrow  to  cover  the 
whole  problem  at  issue.  They  concern 
either  the  personality  of  the  teacher,  or 
one  only  of  his  many  relations  to  his  pu- 
pils, thus  leaving  untouched  many  phases 
of  the  perplexing  question.  Broader  prin- 
ciples and  a  discussion  of  other  relations 
would  be  welcome.  This  necessitates  a 


88         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

consideration  of  the  nature  of  the  disci- 
pline desirable  in  a  class-room  and  on  the 
play-ground. 

All  good  discipline  is  self -discipline.  It 
is  a  concern  of  each  individual  soul :  some- 
thing that  the  boy  must  impose  upon  him- 
self. It  does  not  consist  in  coercion  from 
without,  but  in  a  chastening  from  within. 
The  teacher,  tradition  and  that  intangible 
element  called  atmosphere,  may  offer  oc- 
casion for  it,  may  even  promote  and  direct 
it,  but  they  cannot  make  it.  For  discipline 
is  not  a  growth  from  without.  It  is  a 
spirit  within.  It  begins  in  a  realization 
of  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong, 
proceeds  to  an  understanding  of  duty  and 
obligation,  goes  a  step  further  to  the  for- 
mation of  high  ideals,  and  finally  rests 
in  a  fruitful  determination  to  order  all 
thoughts,  words  and  actions  in  accordance 
with  the  high  standards  conceived  and 
adopted  as  the  norm  to  be  followed. 

Thus,  discipline  pertains  both  to  the  in- 
tellect and  to  the  will.  Enlightenment  and 
strength  are  necessary  for  it.  The  intel- 
lect must  see  the  truth  clearly  and  present 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         89 

it  to  the  will  as  a  good  to  be  desired  and 
adopted.  The  teacher 's  part  in  the  process 
consists  in  skilful  and  attractive  exposi- 
tions of  ideals  and  reasonable  attempts  to 
persuade  his  pupils  to  adopt  and  obey 
them.  In  all  this  he  must  be  chary  of  co- 
ercion. He  is  dealing,  not  with  statues, 
which  remain  where  they  are  put  by  force, 
but  with  rational,  high-strung  boys,  who 
possess  faculties  which  respond  poorly 
enough  to  the  lash  and  the  harsh  word. 
Reason  was  never  yet  persuaded  by 
either  of  these  means,  and  as  a  rule,  the 
will  is  cowed  by  them,  only  to  rebound  to 
former  defects  with  redoubled  energy,  if 
not  fury. 

Discipline,  be  it  remembered,  is  not  op- 
pression and  suppression.  It  is  the  very 
opposite  of  these.  It  is  expansion,  ac- 
companied by  excision  of  the  mean  and  low 
and  base.  The  class-room  is  not  a  prison 
in  charge  of  a  relentless  warden  nor  yet  a 
barracks  in  the  keeping  of  a  stern  colonel. 
It  is  rather  a  meeting  place  of  a  family 
circle,  where  brothers  in  spirit  meet  under 
the  care  of  an  experienced  guide  for  help 


and  encouragement  in  high  effort.  Its 
rules  are  as  few  and  simple  as  possible. 
Its  spirit  is  as  informal  as  is  consistent 
with  effective  work.  Though  the  rod  and 
harsh  words  are  as  necessary  and  salutary 
in  the  school  as  in  the  home,  yet  they 
should  be  called  into  requisition  judi- 
ciously, after  all  other  means  of  training 
have  failed.  Both  are  sometimes  indis- 
pensable for  the  proper  upbringing  of 
boys,  and,  truth  to  tell,  a  vast  army  of  our 
American  boys  would  profit  by  their  use. 
On  the  other  hand,  their  abuse  is  a  mon- 
strous evil.  Misused,  they  become  instru- 
ments of  oppression. 

Those  souls  only  are  trained  which  are 
allowed  to  live  a  normal  life.  Then  it  is 
that  teachers  can  see  the  defects  which  are 
to  be  uprooted  and  the  virtues  which  need 
straightening.  The  easy  family  circle  is 
more  apt  to  uncover  selfishness  and  petu- 
lancy  quicker  than  the  drawing-room,  ruled 
by  rigid  conventionalities.  The  authori- 
tative reasoning  of  a  father  is  more  potent 
for  good  than  a  sharp  rebuke  from  a  mas- 
ter of  ceremonies  who  watches  every  move- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         91 

ment  with  a  critical  eye.  Rational  super- 
vision is  better  than  officious  espionage. 
Indeed,  the  latter  is  not  only  ineffective, 
it  is  disgnsting  and  contemptible,  and  there 
is  nothing  more  pitiable  than  a  system 
which  fosters  it,  or  even  tolerates  it.  The 
boy  who  is  tagged  and  nagged  continually 
is  a  superior  being,  indeed,  if  he  escapes 
ruin.  He  is  almost  sure  to  become  a  cun- 
ning, dishonest  fellow,  who  glances  out  the 
side  of  the  eye,  and  slinks  round  corners 
like  a  thief.  Espionage  is  a  confession  of 
failure.  It  argues-  more  plainly  than 
words  that  the  system  which  spawned  it  is 
incapable  of  touching  the  soul,  and  must 
rely  on  a  miserable  makeshift  to  perpetu- 
ate its  life,  which  were  better  annihilated, 
for  that  it  is  a  lie.  Training?  It  gives 
none.  The  dog  which  bays  the  robber  from 
the  booty  does  not  convert  the  thief.  The 
horse  whose  training  for  the  hunt  consists 
in  forced  avoidance  of  posts  in  a  paddock, 
is  fit  not  for  the  chase,  but  for  lions'  food. 
The  pedagogue  who  is  an  officious  spy 
does  scant  courtesy  to  his  own  character 
and  to  his  profession.  Whatever  his  ver- 


92        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

bal  profession  may  be,  his  conduct  is  meas- 
ured and  directed  by  the  gratuitous  and 
perverse  doctrine  of  total  depravity.  He 
were  better  on  the  benches  striving  for 
higher  ideals.  Of  course  there  should  be 
supervision.  But  supervision  and  espion- 
age are  worlds  apart.  There  is  nothing 
offensive  or  inordinate  about  the  former. 
It  is  reasonable  and  necessary.  Its 
method  is  directive  rather  than  coercive. 
Though  at  times  it  issues  in  penalties,  yet 
is  never  arbitrary.  Modus  in  rebus  is  its 
motto.  The  spirit  which  prompts  it  is  too 
reasonable  to  tempt  rational  objections. 
For  its  purpose  is  not  so  much  the  observ- 
ance of  a  rule,  as  the  acquisition  of  that  for 
which  the  rule  was  instituted.  It  knows 
how  to  overlook  trifles,  pretends  not  to  see 
each  and  every  fault,  does  not  judge  the 
great  and  small  equal.  Moreover  when  it 
has  to  punish,  it  is  solicitous,  not  for  the 
penalty,  but  for  the  good  which  is  to  be 
derived  from  it.  Hence  it  has  a  care  to 
bring  the  boy  both  to  a  realization  of  his 
fault  and  to  a  willingness  to  accept  the  pen- 
alty. But  this,  of  course,  will  never  be 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        93 

if  the  penalty  is  harsh  or  excessive,  or  stu- 
pid, as  is  the  imposition  of  the  transcrip- 
tion of  long,  unintelligible  passages  from 
Greek  authors,  a  monstrous  process  even- 
tuating in  hatred  for  a  noble  study  and  in 
a  ruined  chirography. 

Young  teachers  are  notorious  culprits 
in  regard  to  punishments.  Their  wits 
seem  to  desert  them  in  an  emergency,  and 
they  strike  blindly  and  wrathfully.  Could 
they  but  learn  to  sleep  on  their  wrath  they 
would  escape  many  a  blunder.  Impulse 
and  anger  always  lead  to  excess,  poise  and 
calmness  counsel  moderation.  Punish- 
ments should  be  meted  out  dispassionately 
a  little  at  a  time  to  individuals,  not  angrily 
and  heavily,  to  many  at  once.  Nothing 
brings  a  boy  to  his  senses  quicker  than  the 
realization  that  the  punishment  is  to  be 
proportioned,  not  so  much  to  the  gravity 
of  the  offence,  though  that  should  be  taken 
into  consideration,  too,  as  to  his  unwill- 
ingness to  admit  the  wrong  and  his  slow- 
ness in  correcting  it.  Boys  who  are  de- 
fiant on  the  first  and  second  day  of  punish- 
ment give  way  on  the  third  if  they  feel  that 


94        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

by  so  doing  their  faults  are  forgiven  and 
forgotten. 

In  dealing  with  boys  the  teacher  has  four 
appeals  to  make:  one  to  the  reason,  an- 
other to  the  instinct  of  fear,  a  third  to  the 
instinct  of  reverence,  and  a  fourth  to  their 
love.  The  first  appeal  often  fails  in  the 
case  of  young  lads,  seldom  in  that  of  older 
boys.  Yet  failure  in  the  former  case  need 
not  be  the  rule.  If  it  is,  the  fault  lies  not  in 
the  boy,  but  either  in  the  argument  or  the 
man  who  makes  it.  Young  boys  are  rarely 
captivated  by  speculative  reasons.  They 
are  almost  to  a  lad  pleasure-loving  and 
utilitarian,  and  arguments  to  be  effective 
with  them  must  show  that  a  proposed 
course  of  action  is  at  least  useful,  if  not 
pleasurable.  The  bonum  utile  and  the 
bonum  dulce  should  be  combined  wherever 
possible. 

The  appeal  to  fear,  though  at  times  nec- 
essary and  useful,  should  in  the  main  be 
avoided.  Its  educative  influence  is  not  as 
great  as  is  supposed.  Oftentimes  it  de- 
stroys the  self-confidence  of  the  timid,  and 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING         95 

makes  others  dark  and  secretive,  results 
wholly  undesirable. 

Reverence  and  love  have  none  of  these 
drawbacks.  In  them  there  is  naught  save 
power  for  good.  By  them  the  boy  sur- 
renders himself  completely  to  the  teacher, 
whose  solemn  duty  it  is  to  inspire  him  with 
God-like  thoughts  and  aspirations.  But  it 
must  be  admitted  that  in  these  critical  and 
desperately  democratic  days  boys  require 
a  high  degree  of  excellence  in  those  whom 
they  would  reverence  and  love.  Common- 
place mediocrity  will  scarcely  attract  their 
notice,  much  less  fascinate  them.  They 
demand  superior  mental  and  moral  excel- 
lence in  their  heroes.  We  deceive  our- 
selves by  judging  qtherwise,  or  by  thinking 
that  we  can  dazzle  them  by  false  pretence. 
They  estimate  character  by  a  wonderful 
instinct  which  is  akin  to  that  queer,  un- 
canny intuition  in  women,  which  so  often 
and  so  effectively  replaces  ratiocination. 
Boys'  impressions  of  their  teacher  are 
generally  correct.  It  is  only  when  they 
begin  to  reason  laboriously,  an  infrequent 


96         TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

occurrence,  that  they  go  astray.  For  then 
false  witness  and  prejudice  are  apt  to  di- 
rect and  color  their  judgments. 

As  a  rule,  then,  the  teacher  must  ring 
true  to  be  estimated  true.  And  he  will  ring 
true  if  he  is  a  master  of  his  subject  and 
allied  subjects;  a  friend  of  his  boys,  yet 
their  superior ;  a  pure  wholesome  compan- 
ion, yet  a  prudent  counsellor  in  time  of 
need;  a  whole-souled  unenvious  man,  who 
disdains  to  speak  disparagingly  of  fellow- 
professors,  or  of  pupils  in  the  presence  of 
pupils ;  a  man,  in  short,  who  gives  himself 
to  a  noble  cause,  forgetful  of  rebuif  and 
ingratitude,  seeking  only  to  perpetuate  the 
work  of  Him,  who  set  free  the  captive  and 
gave  sight  to  the  blind.  To  such  a  one 
discipline  is  not  a  problem. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
CHARACTER 

EDUCATION  which  does  not  make  for 
character  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  It  is 
a  play  at  hypocrisy.  It  pretends  to  do 
what  it  cannot  do, — make  a  man.  It  works 
on  the  unformed  child  and  converts  him 
into  a  deformed  man.  It  misses  the  only 
effect  worthy  of  supreme  effort.  For  after 
all  a  good  character  is  man's  greatest 
treasure.  Without  this  the  "psalm  of  life 
is  a  broken  chord,"  with  it  there  is  har- 
mony in  the  soul,  be  trial  and  suffering 
ever  so  great.  Hence  character  should  be 
a  teacher's  chief est  care.  He  should  covet 
nothing  so  much  as  the  privilege  of  bend- 
ing every  effort  to  the  formation  of  souls 
unto  justice.  Such  labor  is  his  life  work. 

To  accomplish  this  he  must  first  have  a 
care  of  himself.  As  far  as  possible  unal- 

97 


98        TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

loyed  goodness  in  great  and  small  things 
must  possess  his  heart.  For  he  is  not  an 
actor.  He  does  not  teach  from  behind  a 
mask  or  under  a  wig.  He  does  not  edu- 
cate by  mere  words,  nor  yet  by  deeds,  but 
by  his  manhood,  by  his  thoughts,  his  as- 
pirations, his  words,  his  deeds,  his  whole 
self,  every  fibre  of  his  being.  He  is  his 
lesson.  If  he  is  noble,  his  lesson  is  ex- 
alted ;  if  he  is  base,  his  work  is  low,  mean 
and  ineffectual.  He  is  a  voice  crying  in 
the  wilderness,  the  voice  is  hollow  and  un- 
persuasive,  and  the  wilderness  will  always 
retain  its  primitive  savagery,  if  indeed  it 
does  not  increase  it.  The  man  is  the  edu- 
cator. The  more  a  noble  personality  en- 
ters into  the  work,  the  better  and  more 
lasting  will  its  effects  be. 

Just  here  modern  education  scores  one 
of  its  most  lamentable  failures.  The  sys- 
tem has  become  so  bureaucratic  that  the 
teacher  is  a  pawn  to  rule  and  sched- 
ule. He  is  cramped,  cabined  and  confined 
by  petty  regulations.  His  individuality  is 
smothered.  His  natural  goodness  is  re- 
placed by  a  text  book,  from  which  diluted 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        99 

ethics  is  spelled  between  taps  of  a  gong. 
He  teaches  according  to  inflexible  schemes 
and  diagrams,  which  have  been  drawn  up 
in  a  far-away  office  by  an  unpractical  if 
exalted  person  who  knows  just  enough 
about  boys  to  class  them  under  vertebrates 
and  bipeds.  Thus  masters  are  converted 
into  machines  and  pupils  go  forth  into 
the  world  trade-marked  not  soul-marked. 
High  hopes  of  youth  are  blasted  and  a  no- 
ble vocation  is  debased  beyond  telling. 
Happily  however  the  bureaucracy  cannot 
wind  its  tentacles  around  every  man  dedi- 
cated to  the  training  of  boys.  There  are 
some  beyond  its  reach.  These  are  our 
hope  and  consolation. 

In  order  that  these  men  may  succeed  in 
their  efforts  they  should  first  realize  what 
character  is.  They  must  have  an  ideal  to 
aim  at.  For  good  will  is  paralyzed  by 
absence  of  true  notions  about  the  end  to 
be  attained.  What  then  is  a  good  charac- 
ter? It  were  impossible  to  give  a  thor- 
oughly adequate  and  satisfactory  defini- 
tion of  this.  Its  details  are  so  numerous 
and  complex  and  withal  subtle  that  some 


100       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

of  them  escape  analysis  and  as  a  conse- 
quence defy  a  verbal  formula.  For  char- 
acter is  life,  and  life  is  intricate  and  deep 
and  shifty,  and  scorns  compression  into  a 
sentence  or  even  into  a  volume.  However 
there  are  certain  features  of  a  fine  char- 
acter on  which  we  can  fasten  without  much 
difficulty.  First  of  all  it  supposes  lofty 
ideals,  high,  correct  thinking.  This  is  es- 
sential but  not  sufficient.  Something  more 
is  demanded.  The  ideals  must  have  a  mo- 
tive power.  They  must  not  be  isolated 
from  action.  They  must  react  constantly 
on  the  will,  moving  it  to  repeated,  delib- 
erate deeds,  until  habits  which  embody 
lofty  principles  become  so  involved  with 
life  itself  that  one  is  the  measure  of  the 
other.  Theoretically  all  this  is  quite  com- 
monplace. Practically  it  is  shamefully 
neglected.  We  have  reached  a  stage 
where  the  few  noble  ideals  left  to  our  peo- 
ple affect  many  of  their  possessors  on 
bright  Sundays  during  "service."  Their 
workaday  lives  are  in  strange  contrast  to 
their  Sunday  professions.  The  result  is 
an  open  book  writ  so  large  that  he  who 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       101 

runs  ever  so  swiftly  can  read  without  fear 
of  eye-strain. 

Character  then  is  a  fixed  condition  of 
the  soul,  a  permanent  state  in  which  the 
spirit  lives  and  moves  under  the  inspira- 
tion and  guidance  of  deep-rooted  princi- 
ples. It  is  not  a  fitful  thing,  something 
which  changes  with  the  weather  or  comes 
and  goes  at  beck  and  call.  It  is  life, 
strong,  exalted  life,  which  outlasts  the 
mortal  breath  a.nd  lives  on  for  eternity. 
True,  men  may  sometimes  fall  short  of 
their  ideals,  but  they  are  not  for  that  char- 
acterless. Falls  are  incidents  even  in  the 
lives  of  the  just,  and  sad  though  they  be, 
they  may  not  be  indicative  of  more  than 
a  passing  weakness.  Occasional  lapses 
are  perfectly  consistent  with  a  character 
which  may  be  good,  albeit  not  perfect.  The 
crux  of  this  question  is  not  in  infrequent 
deviations  from  high  standards,  but  rather 
in  the  total  lack  of  all  elevating  principles. 
Better  a  hundred,  yea,  a  thousand  falls 
which  bring  repentance  than  an  unguided 
or  misguided  life.  The  latter  were  charac- 
terless, the  former  is  not. 


102      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

Teachers  of  boys  are  only  too  apt  to  en- 
tertain wrong  notions  on  this  point.  They 
forget  that  character  formation  is  the 
work  of  a  lifetime,  done,  may  be,  in  storms 
which  every  now  and  then  displace  por- 
tions of  the  spiritual  edifice  which  is  build- 
ing in  pain  and  travail.  The  shortcom- 
ings of  their  pupils  discourage  and  embit- 
ter them.  They  give  up  in  despair  of  ac- 
complishing any  lasting  good  and  await 
their  Nunc  dimittis  with  high  expectation. 
0  foolish  and  slow  of  heart !  Foolish,  that 
they  do  not  understand  life ;  slow  of  heart, 
that  they  do  not  place  their  trust  on  high 
and  begin  anew,  even  after  the  edifice 
which  they  saw  rising  under  their  eyes 
collapses  with  a  crash.  All  is  not  lost. 
The  crash  may  be  more  apparent  than  real. 
For  boyhood  is  a  time  of  strange,  gusty 
moods  and  stranger  contradictions.  The 
wind  of  the  moods  may  be  boisterous,  but 
it  is  seldom  strong  enough  to  do  lasting 
hurt.  It  disturbs  the  surface  of  the  soul 
and  leaves  the  inner  depths  untouched. 
The  whim  of  the  contradiction  may  lead 
the  boy  to  emphasize  the  evil  that  is  in 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       103 

him  and  hide  the  good.  But  virtue  is  there 
and  will  soon  reassert  itself  in  all  its  na- 
tive vigor  and  beauty.  The  teacher's  ideal- 
ism would  seldom  be  blighted,  his  energy 
seldom  sapped  through  disappointment,  did 
he  but  call  to  his  experiences  in  the  for- 
mation of  his  own  character.  The  book  of 
his  life  is  scored  with  failures.  Struggle 
was  and  is  the  meat  and  drink  and  breath 
of  his  life;  eternal  vigilance,  the  price  of 
his  every  victory.  And  failure  and  strug- 
gle and  vigilance  are  emphatically  not 
signs  of  lack  of  character.  Were  it  so, 
the  corpse  would  be  most  masterful. 
Whence,  then,  discouragement  save  from 
a  pusillanimous  heart?  Courage  and  con- 
fidence, a  martyr's  motto,  be  our  inspira- 
tion. After  we  have  assisted  the  boy  to 
lay  the  broad  outlines  of  his  character,  let 
us  help  him  with  the  details  thereof.  For 
they  are  many  and  fickle  and  worrisome 
and  demand  constant,  toilsome  effort.  In 
the  end  success  will  crown  our  work.  For 
Nature  is  not  altogether  bad  and  Grace  is 
strong.  The  constant  striving  of  the  boy, 
guided  by  us,  will  bring  unto  him  integ- 


104      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

rity,  which  will  make  him  true  to  himself 
and  hence  to  others;  courage  which  will 
rejoice  to  make  an  enemy  for  the  sake  of 
principle  and  scorn  to  find  a  friend  at  the 
cost  of  a  principle;  patience  which  endur- 
eth  all  things;  joy  that  scattereth  bless- 
ings in  the  way;  kindness  which  refuses  to 
crush  the  bruised  reed  or  quench  the  smok- 
ing flax:  in  short,  all  the  characteristics 
which  Saint  Peter  postulates  for  those 
"who  have  obtained  equal  faith  with  us 
in  the  justice  of  our  God  and  Savior 
Jesus  Christ":  faith  and  courage  and 
knowledge  and  abstinence  and  patience 
and  brotherly  kindness  and  love,  which  if 
they  be  with  us  and  abound,  will  make  us 
neither  empty  nor  unfruitful. 

The  Greeks  of  old,  drunk  with  joy  over 
their  high  estate,  would  honor  Zeus  for 
that  he  had  been  benign.  They  searched 
their  quarries  for  flawless,  spotless  mar- 
ble, and  finding  it,  they  set  their  most  ex- 
pert sculptor  to  carve  therefrom  a  godlike 
statue  of  the  godly  Zeus.  The  work  was 
done.  The  happy  Greeks  thronged  to  pay 
the  statue  homage.  At  first  sight  they  ac- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       105 

claimed  it  for  its  majesty  and  beauty.  But 
soon  their  joy  was  turned  to  wrath  by  the 
discovery  of  the  sculptor's  name  cut  so 
deep  into  the  fair  marble  that  its  removal 
could  be  accomplished  only  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  statue  itself.  The  work  of  the 
Christian  educator  is  symbolized  in  this. 
He  is  to  send  forth  a  Godlike  man,  with 
the  name  and  character  of  Christ,  the  real 
fashioner  of  hearts,  cut  so  deep  into  the 
soul  that  they  can  be  removed  only  by  the 
annihilation  of  the  soul  itself.  But  Christ 
the  Lord  of  creation  and  Savior  of  men 
will  not  permit  so  great  a  calamity.  Let 
us  see  how  all  this  can  be  accomplished. 


CHAPTER  IX 
TRAINING  FOR  CHARACTER 

AT  present  there  is  perhaps  no  subject 
more  frequently  discussed  in  pedagogical 
circles  than  the  formation  of  character. 
The  subject  itself  appeals  to  every  teacher. 
Moreover,  something  akin  to  a  panic  has 
been  caused  amongst  educators  by  sharp 
criticisms  of  their  failure  to  fashion  boys 
of  sterling  worth,  and  panics  which  are 
not  too  soul-racking  promote  debate. 

The  net  result  is  that  discussion  has  far 
outrun  achievement,  chiefly  because  the 
principles  laid  down  are  only  too  often 
vague  and  impracticable.  Hence  the  topic 
presents  further  opportunity  for  argu- 
ment. 

What  part  is  the  teacher  to  play  in  form- 
ing a  pupil's  character?  In  general  he 
must  both  inculcate  principles  and  foster 

106 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       107 

the  formation  of  habits.  This  requires 
constant  activity  and  elaborate  but  definite 
knowledge.  Mere  acquaintance  with  cer- 
tain common  foibles  of  human  nature  is 
not  sufficient.  Each  boy  in  particular 
must  be  known  intimately  and  trained  in- 
dividually. Otherwise  there  is  much  use- 
less beating  of  the  air. 

The  acquisition  of  the  necessary  knowl- 
edge depends  on  circumstances  which  vary 
with  persons,  times  and  places.  But  cer- 
tain general  hints  may  help  to  its  attain- 
ment. 

Those  for  whom  these  papers  were 
chiefly  written  are  thrown  in  contact  with 
boys  of  many  different  extractions.  Each 
group  is  marked  by  certain  traits.  The 
lads  of  one  set  are  intellectually  quick, 
critical,  destructive  rather  than  construc- 
tive. They  are  disinclined  to  the  hard, 
persistent  effort  which  results  in  thor- 
oughness. They  work  well  under  stimu- 
lus, but  are  apt  to  give  up  once  the  goad 
is  lifted.  Moreover,  they  are  emotional 
and  sensitive,  forgiving  in  great  injustices, 
unforgiving  in  small  offences,  prodigal  in 


108      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

poverty,  tight  in  wealth,  tender  to  all  in 
distress,  hard  on  their  fellows  who  are  suc- 
cessful, but  a  bit  obsequious  to  alien  peo- 
ples of  wealth  or  influence. 

The  boys  of  the  second  class  are  men- 
tally slow,  but  persistent  and  thorough. 
They  set  their  teeth  firm  and  reach  the 
goal  in  triumph,  late  it  may  be,  but  well 
for  all  that.  They  are  stolid  to  a  certain 
point.  Beyond  that  they  are  passionate. 
Their  melancholia  is  acute  and  prolonged, 
their  anger  vehement.  Their  boiling  point 
is  high  but  once  it  is  reached  there  is  a 
mighty  ebullition  and  an  overflow  which  is 
uncomfortable  to  the  objects  of  their 
wrath.  They  possess  a  wonderful  instinct 
for  organization,  which  is  sometimes  car- 
ried to  the  excess  of  undue  insistence  on 
petty  details,  and  an  unfortunate  exclusive- 
ness. 

The  third  group  resembles  the  second  in 
many  ways.  Its  members  partake  of 
many  of  the  latter 's  good  qualities,  but 
they  lack  the  instinct  for  organization,  and 
their  defects  are  more  pronounced.  This 
is  especially  true  of  stubbornness  and  an- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       109 

ger.  There  are  few  lads  of  this  group 
who  are  not  sons  of  Boanerges  in  dis- 
guise. 

Finally,  the  boys  of  the  last  class  are 
quick  in  speculation,  but  inept  in  practical 
affairs,  except  perhaps  in  diplomacy. 
They  are  mystical  and  emotional,  and  lit- 
tle inclined  to  intellectual  drudgery.  They 
are  capable  of  the  highest  idealism,  which 
is  often  tainted  by  self-interest.  Such  in 
general  are  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
our  pupils. 

But  a  teacher's  view  of  the  difficulties 
which  will  be  encountered  would  be  incom- 
plete without  some  very  definite  notions  of 
the  influences  which  play  upon  boys  in 
America.  In  the  first  place,  responsibil- 
ity sits  lightly  upon  the  shoulders  of  many 
American  parents.  They  are  selfish  and 
frivolous,  and  quite  willing  to  shift  the 
burden  of  the  more  serious  parental  duties 
to  other  shoulders.  Their  whole  attitude 
towards  their  boys  is  apt  to  be  wrong. 
Rightly  enough  they  often  make  compan- 
ions of  their  children  at  an  early  age.  But 
the  companionship  is  not  always  as  whole- 


110      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

some  as  it  might  be.  Conversation  very 
often  turns  to  criticism  of  the  boy's 
teacher,  pastor  or  superior.  Authority  is 
attacked.  The  boy's  sense  of  reverence 
and  obedience  is  either  weakened  or  de- 
stroyed, and  before  long  he  holds  the  reins 
of  parental  power  in  his  hands.  He  rules 
the  home,  and  naturally  enough  attempts 
to  lord  it  over  his  teacher.  He  has  a  false 
idea  of  manliness.  He  confounds  it  with 
the  most  unmanly  of  all  defects,  pertness 
and  a  contempt  for  submission  to  lawful 
authority.  These  wretched  conditions  are 
due  to  the  home.  Outside  influences  have 
a  worse  effect  upon  him.  The  very  atmos- 
phere which  he  breathes  is  morally  un- 
healthful.  Lying  and  other  forms  of  dis- 
honesty are  so  common  that  they  excite 
little  surprise.  Eaiment  is  more  than  life. 
Pleasure  is  more  than  the  soul.  Money  is 
the  be-all  and  end-all,  it  is  Circe's  bread 
and  wine,  the  cause  of  a  thousand  woes  in 
which  many  rejoice.  The  godless  and  ig- 
norant man,  who  a  decade  or  two  ago 
coined  money  from  the  blood  of  the  poor, 
is  the  hero  of  the  hour.  He  is  featured  in 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       111 

the  public  press.  His  goings  and  comings 
are  noted  in  red  ink.  His  vices  are 
trumpeted  as  things  of  glory.  His  pic- 
ture and  those  of  his  successive  living 
wives  are  printed  in  a  prominent  place. 
His  benefactions  are  tagged  with  his  name. 
Applause  is  long  and  loud,  even  though  his 
filthy  coins  are  given  for  cheap  glory's 
sake,  and  bid  fair  to  prostitute  the  nation's 
ideals  and  institutions  to  ungodliness. 

All  this  has  a  most  deleterious  effect 
upon  our  boys.  It  tinsels  baseness  and 
glorifies  infamy,  and  tinsel  and  sham  glory 
dazzle  and  pervert  youth.  Thus  pupils 
come  to  our  schools  spoiled,  abnormal,  mis- 
shapen. Deep  down  in  their  hearts  lurk 
ideals  which  are  only  too  often  brought 
into  play  by  the  first  temptations  of  man- 
hood. Great  is  the  ruin.  To  offset  this 
their  souls  must  be  reshaped,  their  spirit 
remade.  The  task  of  reform  will  be  huge, 
but  not  hopeless.  At  least  hopeful  ma- 
terial is  at  hand,  an  immortal  soul,  the 
image  of  an  all-holy  God.  Faith  too  is 
present,  and  faith  is  the  foundation  of  all 
that  is  high  and  noble  and  holy. 


112       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

As  soon  as  the  boy  is  committed  to  the 
teacher's  care  his  training  should  be  in- 
augurated. No  moment  should  be  lost. 
Late  conversions  are  apt  to  be  few  and 
far  between,  and  though  they  are  a  bless- 
ing in  comparison  with  a  former  condition, 
yet  they  are  seldom  as  satisfactory  as  a 
slow,  steady  growth  in  goodness  from 
childhood  to  old  age.  Carpe  diem  cannot 
be  insisted  on  too  much.  A  spoiled  boy  of 
twelve  years  is  a  difficult  problem,  one  of 
fourteen  years  a  knotty  problem,  one  of 
seventeen  an  all  but  desperate  problem. 
Hope  of  perfect  success  rests  to  a  great 
extent  on  early  beginnings.  The  little 
prince  is  trained  for  kingship  from  in- 
fancy, so  that  on  accession  to  the  throne 
he  will  be  a  king  in  deed  and  not  in  name 
alone.  It  were  a  stupid  thing  for  his 
training  to  wait  on  the  sceptre.  King  and 
kingdom  were  lost.  It  were  equally  stupid 
to  permit  a  boy  to  enter  the  kingdom  of 
manhood,  undirected  by  a  guiding  hand, 
untouched  by  the  chastening  rod  of  disci- 
pline. The  kingdom  of  manhood  is  fac- 
tious, difficult  of  rule,  and  the  king  un- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       113 

trained  from  youth  is  slack  of  purpose  and 
unsteady  in  achievement,  a  weakly  thing 
swayed  by  every  wind  of  passion,  like  a 
slender,  naked  reed  in  a  stiff  November 
storm.  Elpenor  of  old  were  not  more 
pitiable,  and  of  him  the  minstrel  sang  in 
biting  words : 

There  was  Elpenor,  the  youngest, — a  chap 

of  little  worth, 
Nor  stanch  in  battle,  nor  well-knit  of  soul. 

How  often  are  we  not  called  upon  to 
say  of  many  of  our  pupils  that  they  are 
not  stanch  in  battle,  nor  well-knit  of  soul? 
A  little  heart-searching  would  frequently 
fasten  the  shame  of  such  conditions  on  us. 
For  few  teachers  work  earnestly  and  in- 
telligently at  character  formation.  Most 
of  them  are  content  to  let  good  enough 
alone.  External  discipline  is  their  only 
concern.  Others  again  put  a  slight  veneer 
over  a  soul  which  festers  at  the  core.  Age 
and  sorrow  and  temptation  and  sin  eat 
through  the  covering  in  a  thousand  places, 
and  bequeath  to  the  world  a  race  of 
crabbed  old  men.  This  will  never  do. 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

Nor  will  it  suffice  simply  to  uproot  vices. 
The  garden  is  not  made  beautiful  by  a 
mere  process  of  weeding,  but  barren  and 
ready  perchance  for  a  new  crop  of  more 
loathsome  weeds.  There  must  be  a  sow- 
ing of  good  seed.  Culture  must  succeed 
the  planting,  until  at  last  the  perfect 
flower  rewards  the  labor  done. 

One  by  one,  slowly  and  patiently,  at- 
tractive ideals  must  be  held  up  before  the 
pupils.  There  must  be  no  confusion,  no 
bustle,  no  magisterial  tones,  but  peace  and 
calmness  and  simplicity.  Above  all  there 
must  be  a  rational  system.  To  get  a  boy 
to  adopt  two  or  three  principles  a  year  is 
a  great  victory.  But  a  master  will  never 
bring  this  to  pass  by  pitch-forking  ideals 
into  little  heads.  The  farmer  who  scat- 
ters all  sorts  of  seeds  on  the  same  ground 
harvests  nothing.  The  teacher  should 
classify  his  boys  according  to  their  races, 
watch  for  national  characteristics,  learn 
personal  traits,  and  fit  his  training  to  the 
needs,  and  as  the  needs  are  generally  va- 
ried, so  too  must  the  training  be.  *  *  Treat 
all  alike,"  advice  often  given  to  young 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       115 

teachers,  is  absurd  and  impossible.  As 
well  might  the  old  practitioner  say  to  the 
young  doctor:  "  Treat  your  typhoid, 
small-pox  and  grip  patients  exactly  in  the 
same  way."  To  treat  the  timid  and  the 
bold,  the  sluggard  and  the  plodder,  the 
reverent  and  the  irreverent  alike,  is  either 
to  crush  the  one  or  to  harden  the  other  in 
evil.  Treat  all  differently  is  often  the  only 
sensible  advice.  Before  all  else  the 
teacher  must  beware  of  shielding  the  boys 
from  trial  and  struggle.  He  should  not 
graft  virtues  on  to  their  souls.  He  must 
let  his  pupils  suffer  the  travail  incident  to 
the  formation  of  their  characters.  They 
themselves  must  struggle  to  train  their 
souls  under  the  master's  direction.  En- 
vironment, exposition  of  principles,  en- 
couragement, are  all  indispensable,  but  in- 
sufficient and  even  ineffective  without  work 
and  suffering  on  the  part  of  the  boy. 
Goethe  hits  upon  more  than  a  half  truth 
in  his  Es  bildet  ein  Talent  sich  in  der 
Stille,  dock  ein  Character  in  der  Strom  der 
Welt.  Struggle  and  even  temptation  make 
for  fuller  development.  Trial  deepens 


116      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

courage,  temptation  engenders  self-con- 
trol and  sympathy,  sorrow  fathers  meek- 
ness and  patience,  intellectual  difficulties 
foster  humility,  the  ingratitude  of  others 
promotes  unselfishness  in  us.  What  could 
be  better?  For  life  is  not  a  tripping  to  a 
dance  measure.  The  pace  must  often  be 
set  to  the  music  of  the  battle  march,  or  the 
solemn  beat  of  the  dirge.  For  such  men 
must  be  prepared.  We  dance  by  instinct. 
But  even  after  stern  preparation  we  gird 
our  loins  and  swing  the  battle-axe  with 
clumsy  reluctance.  Without  training  our 
young  men  will  do  neither  in  any  way. 
Failure,  doom,  will  be  their  fate. 

On  the  other  hand,  with  proper  care  pu- 
pils will  leave  our  halls  lofty  of  mind, 
strong  of  will,  sound  of  judgment,  poised 
in  all  things :  men  who  will  sing  under  low- 
ering clouds,  and  whistle  in  the  teeth  of  a 
biting  wind. 

"I  dare  do  all  that  may  become  a  man; 
Who  dares  do  more,  is  none" 

will  mean  more  for  them  than  for  Mac- 
beth himself. 


CHAPTER  X 
RELIGION  IN  EDUCATION 

EDUCATION  without  religious  training  is 
sadly  incomplete.  Such  is  the  verdict  of 
reason  and  experience.  The  latter  pre- 
sents an  open  book  eloquent  in  testimony 
of  the  ills  which  follow  an  ungodly  up- 
bringing. The  former  convinces  us  that 
man  has  spiritual  faculties  which  can  be 
perfected  to  their  fullest  extent  by  religion 
alone. 

Moreover,  viewed  from  a  merely  human 
standpoint,  life  is  an  inevitable  failure. 
We  war  against  enemies  who .  eventually 
cast  us  into  the  grave,  conquered.  Illu- 
sions of  victory  may  be  many  and  strong 
to  buoy  us  up  till  our  allotted  time  is  fin- 
ished. Victory  itself  is  impossible.  As 
well  expect  the  bleating  lamb  to  outrun  the 

swift-footed  wolf,  as  man  to  flee  the  relent- 
in 


118      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

less  universal  reaper  in  safety.  There 
awaits  us  all  the  "one  far-off  divine  event 
to  which  the  whole  creation  moves,"  death, 
defeat.  In  sober  moments  this  conviction 
is  uppermost  in  all  men's  souls.  Art  and 
literature  bespeak  it  pathetically  and  elo- 
quently. Authors  as  far  apart  in  educa- 
tion and  temperament  as  the  writer  of  the 
"Book  of  Wisdom,"  Chrysostom,  Turge- 
nieff,  Shakespeare,  Shirley,  Tennyson  and 
a  thousand  others,  press  it  home  upon  us 
with  the  passionate  conviction  peculiar  to 
a  thought  which  arises  from  the  human 
heart  so  spontaneously  and  irresistibly 
that  it  must  be  spoken  in  hot,  eloquent 
words.  Life  on  earth  is  broken,  incom- 
plete. Its  complement  lies  beyond  the 
clouds,  in  Heaven.  It  is  our  duty  to  at- 
tain thereto.  This  can  be  done  only  by  re- 
ligion. There  should  therefore  be  no 
doubt  about  the  necessity  and  fitness  of 
religious  education.  Our  boys  have  a 
right  to  it.  Parents  and  teachers  are 
obliged  to  give  it. 

How  to  do  this  is  a  question  worthy  of 
consideration.    The  problem,  tangled  by 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       119 

its  very  nature,  is  made  doubly  difficult 
by  present-day  circumstances.  Eadical 
democracy  is  the  fashion  of  the  hour.  That 
never  yet  made  for  faith  and  God,  but  only 
for  unfaith  and  gods.  Under  its  spell  men 
are  not  content  to  see  darkly.  They  must 
see  clearly  or  not  at  all.  They  measure 
God  by  themselves,  not  themselves  by  God. 
So  their  god  becomes  identified  with  the 
will  of  man,  an  imperfect,  sinning  thing 
groping  towards  a  perfection  which  it  will 
never  reach. 

Consequently  the  teacher's  first  task  is 
to  persuade  his  pupils  that  to  see  darkly 
is  the  lot  of  man  on  earth.  Human  vision, 
howsoever  keen,  cannot  be  the  measure  of 
the  greatness  of  the  Creator.  The  poor 
flickering  light  of  the  human  intellect  can- 
not illuminate  the  inscrutable  abyss  of 
God's  majesty.  The  plummet  of  the  hu- 
man heart  is  lost  in  sounding  the  depths 
of  the  love  and  goodness  of  God.  In  the 
very  nature  of  things,  religion  must  con- 
tain an  element  of  mystery.  It  were  a 
sham  else,  a  fraud,  a  lie.  This  must  be 
brought  home  to  boys.  Then  they  must  be 


120      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

inspired  with  a  holy  reverence  and  awe  for 
the  infinite,  all-holy  personal  God  in  whom 
they  live  and  move  and  are. 

Nothing  is  too  small  to  be  of  consequence 
in  this  matter.  Disregard  of  the  small 
leads  to  contempt  of  the  great.  Irrever- 
ence in  church  or  at  prayer  betokens  a  di- 
minishing respect  for  Him  who  is  the  Lord 
of  church  and  prayers  and  all  things  else. 
The  final  outcome  may  be  calamitous  for 
the  soul.  Hence  no  effort  should  be  spared 
to  foster  in  the  boy  a  spirit  of  intense  re- 
spect for  all  that  pertains  tio  God.  Church 
services  and  the  teacher's  habitual  atti- 
tude towards  God  should  all  impress  the 
youth  with  the  dignity  and  importance  of 
religion. 

Though  reverence  for  religion  may  be 
acquired  without  much  knowledge  of  doc- 
trine, yet  it  cannot  survive  for  long  under 
such  a  condition.  For  this  and  other  rea- 
sons the  question  of  proper  instruction  is 
of  utmost  importance.  This  instruction  is 
of  two  kinds,  informal  and  formal.  The 
first  named  can  be  given  at  any  time  and 
in  diverse  ways.  Occasions  for  it  are  al- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

ways  at  hand.  Private  conversations,  apt 
hints,  pictures,  biographies  of  holy,  zeal- 
ous laymen  such  as  Ozanam  and  Moreno, 
all  lend  themselves  to  it  easily  and  profit- 
ably. 

Formal  instruction  presents  greater 
difficulties.  Boys  do  not  take  kindly  to 
catechism  and  sermons.  Their  attitude  to- 
wards them  is  often  that  of  passive  resist- 
ance. Occasionally  there  is  some  justifi- 
cation for  this  disedifying  condition.  The 
dreariest  remembrances  of  a  schoolboy's 
career  sometimes  centre  round  the  lesson 
in  religion  and  the  sermon.  Likely  as  not, 
the  former  consists  of  a  spiritless,  monot- 
onous repetition  of  questions  and  answers, 
while  the  former  is  often  vague  and  im- 
practicable. Yet  the  great  justification  of 
our  schools  is  not  Latin  or  Greek  or  his- 
tory or  mathematics,  but  religious  train- 
ing. It  is  for  this  that  Catholic  fathers 
and  mothers  make  yearly  sacrifices  which 
are  simply  stupendous,  and  it  is  this  above 
all  else  which  should  call  to  the  best  that 
is  in  the  teacher.  His  preparation  for  a 
lesson  in  religion  should  be  diligent  and 


122      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

minute;  his  instruction  intelligent,  lively, 
varied.  Question  and  answer  should  play 
their  part,  but  they  are  not  everything. 
They  must  be  vivified,  made  practical, 
brought  into  touch  with  life  by  story  and 
illustration.  They  are  dead  things  into 
which  the  teacher  must  inject  a  palpitat- 
ing soul  that  will  appeal  to  imagination, 
intellect  and  will.  Eeligion  is  also  life, 
and  life  belongs  to  more  than  one  faculty. 
The  student  who  leaves  college  with  no  re- 
ligious training  save  that  implied  in  a  mere 
knowledge  of  doctrine  is  in  a  fair  way  to 
becoming  a  devil,  the  more  wicked  because 
of  his  knowledge.  Yards  of  questions  and 
answers  will  not  save  his  soul.  Something 
else  is  required, — an  upright  life.  In  that 
lies  salvation.  The  boy  must  live  the  doc- 
trine from  early  youth.  This  demands  an 
atmosphere  fit  to  support  and  strengthen 
life.  A  dull  page  had  by  rote  cannot  ac- 
complish such  a  condition.  Monotony 
saps  vigor  and  life  itself.  There  should 
then  be  variety  of  method  in  our  teaching. 
Chart  and  picture  and  story  appeal 
strongly  to  high-school  boys,  and  are  by 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       123 

no  means  scorned  by  older  students. 
These  latter  profit  most  of  all  by  intelli- 
gent discussions  conducted  with  as  little 
interference  as  possible  from  the  teacher. 
A  topic,  such  as  the  infallibility  of  the 
Pope,  can  be  assigned  to  a  bright  student 
for  defence.  Other  members  of  the  class 
should  be  appointed  to  search  out  and 
urge  objections.  This  privilege,  however, 
should  not  be  confined  exclusively  to  a  se- 
lected few.  All  should  be  allowed  and 
even  urged  to  enter  the  lists.  Such  exer- 
cises, if  not  too  frequent,  have  a  wonder- 
fully stimulating  effect,  and  give  to  the  les- 
son a  value  hard  to  acquire  from  any  other 
source.  Mature  boys  also  take  an  interest 
in  preparing  essays  on  religious  topics  to 
be  read  in  the  class-room  before  their  fel- 
lows. Success  will  attend  all  these  meth- 
ods of  instruction  if  the  teacher  is  sym- 
pathetic and  helpful,  not  cynical  and  fussy. 
Sermons  to  college  boys  offer  particu- 
lar difficulties.  The  choice  of  subjects,  the 
manner  of  presentation,  the  lessons  to  be 
drawn,  all  present  their  own  problems.  It 
goes  without  saying  that  preparation  is 


184»      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

required  for  success  in  this  work.  Boys 
do  not  expect  eloquence  in  every  man,  but 
they  do  expect  clearness  of  presentation 
and  dignity  of  style.  Neither  is  possible 
without  forethought.  This  is  often  con- 
spicuously absent.  Many  a  time  the  text 
from  Scripture  is  the  only  clear,  incisive 
part  of  the  sermon.  The  rest  is  "shoes 
and  ships  and  sealing-wax  and  cabbages 
and  kings. "  Some  men,  too,  preach  their 
eccentricities.  They  forget  the  Eum  opor- 
tet  crescere,  me  autem  minui.  Their  vain- 
glory is  too  much  for  them.  They  pro- 
ject themselves  into  sacred  scenes  and 
places  in  a  manner  which  gives  occasion 
for  merriment  and  remarks  far  from  con- 
soling and  complimentary.  Bad  as  is  the 
vainglorious  sermon,  there  is  another  still 
worse,  the  baseball  or  football  sermon. 
No  doubt  points  can  be  scored  by  an  occa- 
sional prudent  use  of  apt  illustrations 
drawn  from  the  campus.  But  to  preach  as 
if  "Spalding's  Guide"  were  a  text-book  in 
homiletics  is  to  cheapen  religion  and  de- 
grade a  sacred  function.  The  effect  on 
the  boys  is  the  very  opposite  of  that  de- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING        125 

sired.  Much  as  they  love  the  field,  they 
resent  its  encroachment  on  the  sanctuary. 
They  look  for  something  higher:  sermons 
that  are  short,  clear,  vigorous,  practical, 
spiritual. 

But  when  all  has  been  said,  it  must  be 
granted  that  sermons,  lessons  and  discus- 
sions will  be  of  little  avail  unless  the  boy 
is  brought  to  live  the  doctrines  taught. 
"We  are  saddened  at  times  by  lapses  of  our 
pupils  from  their  early  practices.  They 
reject  the  milk  and  honey  of  their  Father's 
house  for  the  husks  that  swine  do  eat. 
They  exchange  the  liberty  of  the  sons  of 
God  for  the  bondage  of  sin.  Why?  Per- 
haps because  their  growth  in  spirit  was 
automatic  rather  than  loving  and  spon- 
taneous. The  gong  sounded,  and  they 
went  to  Mass  by  force  of  rule  or  tradition. 
They  bowed  and  genuflected  and  sang 
without  thought  of  the  significance  of  their 
acts.  Their  attendance  on  the  sacraments 
was  a  function  instead  of  an  outgoing  of 
the  soul  to  God.  Religion  was  more  ex- 
terior than  interior,  more  a  thing  of  sense 
and  tradition  than  of  the  soul.  There  was 


126       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

much  of  the  wheel  and  cog  about  it,  and  lit- 
tle of  life.  In  the  end  temptation  came  and 
stirred  the  soul  deeper  than  religion.  The 
result  is  better  conjectured  than  described. 
This  can  be  prevented.  Both  teacher  and 
confessor  can  play  a  part  in  averting  it. 
The  latter  can  do  so  by  making  each  con- 
fession tell  on  the  boy's  soul  in  the  man- 
ner dictated  by  experience  and  theological 
training.  The  task  of  the  former  is  a  bit 
more  difficult.  His  one  hope  of  success  lies 
in  making  religion  part  and  parcel  of  the 
life  of  the  boy's  soul.  This  is  not  easy. 
Boys  live  by  the  senses  rather  than  by  the 
spirit.  Their  religion  is  apt  to  be  a  thing 
of  sense,  the  more  so  that  Catholicism  ap- 
peals so  strongly  to  the  lower  faculties. 
Of  course  this  appeal  is  just  what  it  should 
be.  For  these  faculties  are  creatures,  and 
should  be  led  captive  to  God.  They  are 
channels  of  knowledge,  and  should  be  used 
for  that  purpose.  But  that  religion  should 
proceed  no  further  than  eye  and  ear  is 
monstrous.  Architecture,  painting,  sculp- 
ture, vestments  are  symbols  of  a  reality 
which  should  stir  the  spirit  to  its  very 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       127 

depths.  Lights,  flowers,  incense,  music 
should  make  their  ultimate  appeal  to  the 
soul.  Do  they  do  so  ?  Not  always.  The  boy 
is  not  taught  to  look  beyond  the  symbols. 
He  becomes  absorbed  in  them  to  the  neg- 
lect of  that  which  is  symbolized.  The 
Mass,  the  great  gift  of  God  to  men,  the 
Mass,  at  once  a  sacrament  and  a  sacrifice, 
a  history  and  a  pathetic  drama  with  cli- 
max and  anti-climax,  is  but  a  passing  show, 
a  brave  pageant,  without  inner  meaning. 
There  are  lights  and  vestments  and  chants 
and  incense  and  bows  and  genuflections, 
all  awesome  no  doubt,  but  almost  mean- 
ingless to  the  young  soul.  So  too  of  other 
sublime  offices  of  the  ritual.  There  is  no 
just  appreciation  of  their  significance,  and 
hence  no  reaction  strong  enough  to  induce 
the  formation  of  vigorous  habits  of  virtue. 
The  boy's  attitude  is  much  like  that  attrib- 
uted by  Plato  to  those  captives  in  a  cave, 
who  ascribed  all  that  went  on  in  the  world 
above  them  to  the  shadows  which  flitted 
on  the  walls  of  their  prison. 

Shadows  and  symbols  are  everything  to 
the  lads.     They  weave  therefrom  a  web  of 


128      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

romance  and  mystery,  pleasing  enough, 
perhaps,  but  wholly  unfit  to  bridge  the 
abyss  of  life.  Bookishness,  shallowness, 
formalism  of  instruction  is  the  cause  of 
this.  Too  much  is  attempted,  too  little 
done  with  life  and  energy.  Christ  is  not 
made  to  stand  out  in  all  and  through  all. 
He  does  not  become  a  living  reality.  He 
is  more  mythical  than  real.  He  is  ob- 
scured in  word,  and  obscured  very  often 
in  devotion.  And  so  the  young  soul  re- 
mains unconscious  of  the  beauty  and  sub- 
limity of  His  character,  and  never  becomes 
attracted  to  Him  with  a  real  personal  love. 
Herein  is  the  secret  of  many  spiritual  dif- 
ficulties of  later  life.  The  corrective  is 
within  the  teacher's  power.  Through  the 
grace  of  God  he  must  impart  apt  knowl- 
edge to  the  boys,  generate  ardent  convic- 
tions in  their  minds,  create  passionate  at- 
tachment to  right  in  their  souls. 

Then  all  will  be  well  with  the  pupils. 
For  everything  will  speak  to  them  of  God. 
Joy  and  sorrow,  success  and  failure  will  be 
His  messengers,  men  His  image,  books  His 
mouthpiece,  nature  His  robe.  He  will 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING      129 

dwell  in  the  silence  of  the  forest,  brood  in 
majesty  over  the  rolling  sea,  rule  in  the 
raging  tempest,  whisper  in  the  gentle 
breeze :  God  everywhere,  in  all  and  through 
all.  Boys  who  appreciate  this  will  never 
go  far  astray.  They  will  realize  with  Bus- 
kin that  "to  live  is  nothing  unless  to  live 
be  to  know  Him  by  whom  we  live. ' '  Then 
in  the  end  they  will  repeat  with  convic- 
tion: 

Plurima  qu&sivl,  per  singula  quceque 
cucurri, 

Nee  quidquam  inveni  melius  quam  cre- 
dere Christo. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SOCIOLOGY  AND  CATHOLIC 
EDUCATION 

PBESENT-DAY  society  presents  a  picture 
which  is  far  from  exhilarating.  Masses 
are  in  conflict  with  classes ;  morals  are  bad, 
lawlessness  is  rife,  and,  worst  of  all,  many 
good  men,  in  despair  of  a  remedy,  have 
become  inactive  and  pessimistic.  Yet 
there  must  be  an  offset  to  the  evils  of  the 
times.  Strife  and  discontent  are  not  new 
in  the  world.  The  voice  of  revolution  and 
anarchy  has  been  heard  before.  Virtue 
has  been  in  rags  and  tatters  ere  this,  and 
vice  has  paraded  in  satin  and  broadcloth. 
Society  has  been  in  desperate  straits  many 
a  time.  And  it  has  always  passed  through 
them  in  safety,  albeit  weakened  and  per- 
chance a  bit  shattered.  Sensual,  grovel- 
ling Eome  died,  and  the  State  lived  on. 

130 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING      131 

The  frantic  era  of  the  Reformation  went 
its  way  and  left  society  after  it.  The  cold, 
cynical,  rationalistic  eighteenth  century 
disappeared,  and  the  State  survived.  And 
God's  arm  is  not  shorter  now  than  then. 
His  intellect  has  not  lost  its  power,  nor 
His  will  its  strength.  He  is  not  puzzled 
nor  conquered  nor  intimidated  by  the  ex- 
cesses of  men.  He  is  still  the  God  of  na- 
tions. The  State  as  well  as  the  individual 
is  His  creature.  Society  is  His  work  and 
His  care.  He  can  redeem  it  and  sanctify 
it  once  again.  For  its  redemption  and 
sanctification  are  bound  up  with  the  re- 
generation of  each  individual  soul,  a  result 
easy  of  attainment  through  the  super- 
abounding  merits  of  the  Blessed  Savior. 
Pure  hearts  make  a  worthy  State;  and 
pure  hearts  are  not  beyond  God's  power. 
But  it  is  to  God,  and  to  Him  alone,  that 
we  must  look  for  relief  in  the  present 
crisis.  There  is  neither  remedy  for  vice 
nor  promise  of  progress  save  by  and 
through  the  observance  of  His  law.  Men 
cannot  be  dragooned  into  virtue.  The 
bayonet  may  pierce  the  heart;  it  cannot 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

reform  it.  Statutes  may  promote  public 
decency;  they  cannot  furnish  props  for  a 
sin-laden  State.  Eventually, 

Vis  consili  expers  mole  ruit  sua. 

Eeligion  is  the  one  sure  foundation  of 
society.  Balzac  was  only  half  right  in  as- 
serting that  Christianity  is  the  greatest 
element  of  social  order.  It  is  more  than 
that.  It  is  the  fundamental  element. 
Without  it  all  other  elements  are  vain  and 
useless.  True,  the  wisdom  of  the  world 
does  not  reckon  with  this.  But  the  wisdom 
of  the  world  has  failed  for  many  a  century ; 
and  it  were  time  now  to  give  the  folly  of 
the  Cross  some  consideration. 

The  reform  of  society,  even  in  the 
sense  intended  by  advanced  sociologists, 
pertains  primarily  to  Christianity.  La 
morale  chretienne  n'est  pas  sociale  is  an 
outrage  on  truth  and  other  virtues  alike. 
Christ's  mission  was  also  sociological  in 
the  highest  and  truest  sense.  There  never 
was  and  never  will  be  a  more  successful 
social  reformer  than  Our  Lord.  And  this 
for  the  very  reason  that  sociology  and  re- 
ligion are  inseparable.  Sociology  without 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       133 

religion  is  a  fraud;  religion  without  so- 
ciology is  cant.  Imagine  a  sociology  with- 
out the  works  of  mercy !  Nothing  could  be 
more  absurd,  save  perhaps  a  heaven  with- 
out God.  And  yet  these  self samer  works 
of  mercy  are  part  and  parcel  of  Christ's 
gospel.  He  taught  them  and  practised 
them.  He  instructed  the  ignorant,  coun- 
^selled  the  doubtful,  admonished  sinners, 
comforted  the  sorrowful,  fed  the  hungry, 
gave  drink  to  the  thirsty,  clothed  the 
naked,  visited  the  sick,  cleansed  the  lep- 
rous, strengthened  the  palsied,  gave  sight 
to  the  blind,  speech  to  the  dumb,  hearing 
to  the  deaf.  "  Jesus  went  about  all  the 
cities  and  towns,  teaching  in  the  syna- 
gogues and  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  healing  every  disease  and 
every  infirmity."  All  these  He  did,  and 
so  much  store  did  He  set  by  them  that  He 
offered  them  as  proofs  of  His  Messiah- 
ship.  "Go  and  relate  to  John  what  you 
have  heard  and  seen.  The  blind  see,  the 
lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  deaf 
hear,  the  dead  rise  again,  the  poor  have 
the  Gospel  preached  to  them." 


134      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

This  is  real  sociology.  Heaven  is  its 
pith  and  substance:  the  works  of  mercy 
done  in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  regeneration  of  the  body 
politic.  And  this  kind  alone  is  helpful. 
Other  species  are  debasing  to  the  helper 
and  the  helped.  To  teach  the  young  the 
laws  of  hygiene  and  external  decorum 
without  attempting  anything  further,  is  to 
labor  at  the  formation  of  semicultured 
pagans  whose  very  gifts  will  be  a  menace 
to  the  State.  There  will  be  outward  glow 
and  show,  and  inward  rottenness.  To  dole 
out  food  to  men  without  inspiring  them 
with  Christian  self-reliance  or  resignation 
as  need  may  demand,  is  to  generate  a  race 
of  paupers.  To  pension  the  poor  without 
consideration  of  the  virtue  which  should 
be  peculiar  to  their  condition,  is  to  increase 
an  already  huge  army  of  impudent  and 
ungrateful  parasites,  who  will  bleed  the 
State  to  the  last  drop  without  generous 
thought  of  neighbor  or  of  God,  the  giver 
of  all  bounty.  There  is  no  sociology  in 
this,  but  only  sickly  sentimentalism,  or 
' t  slumming, ' '  the  debased  and  debasing  di- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       135 

version  of  divorcees  and  powdered  dam- 
sels. Mere  benevolence,  philanthropy, 
will  not  solve  social  problems.  Nations 
have  thought  so.  Their  ashes  are  a  mon- 
ument to  their  success. 

Philanthropy  flourishes  exceedingly 
amongst  us  to-day.  It  was  never  more 
conspicuous.  Neither  were  our  national 
vices.  Charity  is  needed — the  virtue  that 
puts  Christ,  and  not  the  name  of  the  sor- 
did millionaire,  into  the  hearts  of  the  poor 
and  unfortunate.  It  is  only  through  char- 
ity that  our  modern  shibboleth  ''the  fa- 
therhood of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of 
man"  has  a  true  meaning.  We  are  chil- 
dren of  the  Father  and  brothers  of  one 
another  in  and  by  and  through  Christ. 
We  remain  such  by  imitating  Him.  Christ 
is  charity,  not  philanthropy. 

This  is  the  mind  and  spirit  of  the 
Church.  Such  the  ideal  to  which  she  has 
been  so  true  that  even  her  arch  enemies 
admire  her  for  this  feature  of  her  life. 
Guizot,  in  contemplating  this  characteris- 
tic, was  forced  to  admit  that  she  has  played 
a  grand  part  in  the  history  of  civilization. 


136      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

She  emerged  from  the  catacombs  torn  and 
bleeding,  to  begin  her  open  life  in  a  society 
composed  of  an  army  of  slaves,  lustful 
freemen,  dames  whose  names  were  a  hiss- 
ing and  a  byword,  and  a  few  harmless  ora- 
tors. The  State  was  rotten  to  its  very 
nerves  and  fibres,  heartless  as  a  tiger, 
tyrannous  as  a  demon.  And  yet  in  the 
face  of  all  this  the  Church  found  a  way  to 
inaugurate  sociological  works  which  com- 
pel universal  admiration.  The  sick,  the 
maimed,  the  orphan  were  gathered  into 
hospitals  and  homes,  and  treated  with  ten- 
derness as  brothers  of  Christ.  A  special 
Order  was  instituted  for  the  care  of  the 
poor.  The  Master's  mantle  covered  many 
shoulders  and  warmed  many  hearts  to  he- 
roic deeds  of  love.  There  were  many  men 
like  Laurence,  who,  under  orders  to  sur- 
render the  treasures  of  the  Church  to  the 
State,  presented  to  the  Eoman  officials  a 
multitude  of  maimed  and  miserable  peo- 
ple. And  this  spirit  lived  in  the  mission- 
ers  who,  century  after  century,  stalked 
forest  and  jungle  in  search  of  men  to  whom 
they  might  impart  both  religion  and  the 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       137 

useful  arts  and  sciences.  The  greatest 
body  of  sociologists  who  ever  lived  were 
the  Benedictines.  They  set  a  standard 
which  has  never  been  surpassed  and  is  but 
poorly  imitated.  One-third  of  the  French 
towns  owed  their  origin  to  these  monks. 
Their  monasteries  rose  in  trackless  for- 
ests, and  became  schools  for  the  children, 
hospitals  for  the  sick,  almshouses  for  the 
poor  and  inns  for  the  weary  travellers. 
Therein  the  arts  of  peace  flourished  for 
long  ages,  enriching  the  world  with  mas- 
terpieces which  adorn  many  a  modern  mu- 
seum. Under  the  care  of  these  men  wild 
souls  were  tamed,  rough  manners  became 
gentle,  sleeping  intellects  awoke,  clumsy 
hands  grew  skilful.  Life  took  on  new  val- 
ues. The  nomad  tribe  became  a  civilized 
society  with  Christ  as  Guide  and  Master. 
True  sociology  scored  a  victory.  It  would 
score  another,  were  it  brought  into  play. 
For  the  Church  can  meet  every  need.  She 
has  a  remedy  for  every  ill.  Her  divine 
Founder  foresaw  all,  and  provided  in  ac- 
cordance with  His  prevision. 
And  never  was  there  greater  necessity 


138       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

of  the  Church's  doctrines  and  practices. 
Unreasonable  individualism,  the  Gallic 
Egalitairism  in  which  the  French  Bevolu- 
tion  focused,  has  done  a  sad  work.  Its  in- 
fluence is  felt  in  religious,  social  and  eco- 
nomic spheres.  Men  are  living  for  them- 
selves. They  will  not  subordinate  one 
tithe  of  their  ambitions  to  the  general  good. 
Charity  is  crushed.  Philanthropy,  in 
many  cases  at  least,  is  a  personal  gratifi- 
cation of  vainglory.  The  union  and  fra- 
ternity without  which  the  State  cannot  ex- 
ist is  growing  less  and  less.  Authority  is 
disrespected.  Laws  are  framed  for 
classes,  and  violated  both  by  classes  and 
masses.  The  insolent  rich  have  become 
irresponsible  and  the  poor  truculent. 
Fraud  and  lust  are  gnawing  at  the  vitals 
of  the  State.  Plato  was  wont  to  represent 
society  as  an  organism  in  which  individ- 
uals are  the  organs.  How  long  can  such 
an  organism  subsist,  head  at  war  with 
hands,  neck  at  war  with  shoulders,  heart 
at  war  with  lungs  t  The  application  is  ap- 
parent. 

Conditions  would  be  far  different  were 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       139 

Catholic  doctrines  followed.  Individual 
and  class  interests  would  be  subordinated 
to  the  common  good.  Authority  would  be 
considered  God-given,  not  man-made. 
Laws  would  take  on  new  sanctions.  The 
rich  would  learn  that  they  are  but  stewards 
of  wealth,  responsible  to  God  for  its  use 
and  abuse.  The  poor  would  be  taught  the 
nobility  of  labor  and  patience  under  trial. 
They  would  seek  relief  through  legitimate 
means,  understanding  that  it  were  better 
to  suffer  an  ill  than  to  sin  in  righting  it. 
Christ  would  be  reproduced  in  souls.  And 
that  is  the  one  thing  needed.  More  of 
Christ,  and  less  of  shower-baths  and  ath- 
letic meets  and  stereopticon  lectures,  would 
do  a  deal  to  straighten  out  tangled  condi- 
tions. 

Catholic  educators  should  be  the  fore- 
most in  effecting  this.  Times  and  condi- 
tions have  changed.  Methods  must  change 
with  them.  Formerly  the  priest  was  the 
sole  agent  of  the  work.  He  cannot  be 
so  any  longer.  A  wave  of  radicalism 
has  alienated  many  from  him.  Our  cities 
are  teeming  with  aliens,  ignorant  of  our 


140      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

language,  shy  of  our  religious  customs, 
strangers  in  a  strange  land,  whom  priests 
cannot  reach,  but  whom  wolves  in  sheep's 
clothing  do  reach.  The  layman  must  go 
down  amongst  these  waifs  and  bring  Christ 
unto  them. 

But  laymen  will  not  do  so  unless  they 
are  brought  to  an  early  realization  of  their 
powers  and  responsibilities  in  this  mat- 
ter. For  obvious  reasons,  this  is  the  work 
of  Catholic  instructors,  a  work  sadly  neg- 
lected. In  one  of  our  large  cities,  less 
than  five  per  cent,  of  the  active  members 
of  the  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Society  are  col- 
lege men,  and  less  than  fifteen  per  cent, 
of  the  workers  in  the  Ozanam  Society  had 
the  advantages  of  academic  training. 
Hard-working  clerks  and  salesmen  are  the 
principal  laborers  in  these  guilds.  They 
are  the  Christophers,  while  the  college  men 
of  large  opportunities,  and  hence  of 
greater  responsibilities,  hold  aloof  from 
the  holy  work  almost  entirely.  There  is  no 
excuse  for  this,  and  there  is  but  one  satis- 
factory explanation  for  it:  the  apathy  of 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       141 

Catholic  teachers.  Boys  pass  through  col- 
lege unaware  of  the  ignorance  and  help- 
lessness to  which  so  many  splendid  fellows 
are  condemned  through  no  fault  of  their 
own.  How  can  our  students  desire  to  help 
others,  if  they  never  realize  the  needs  of 
others?  How  can  they  be  expected  to  ex- 
tend active  charity  to  others,  if  they  are 
neither  taught  their  obligations  nor  in- 
spired with  a  desire  to  fulfil  them? 

Men  argue  that  it  is  impossible  to  inter- 
est American  boys  in  such  matters.  This 
is  not  true.  Secular  universities  have  in- 
terested their  students  in  them.  More- 
over, our  boys  do  not  fall  short  of  Span- 
ish, Belgian,  German  or  English  boys  in 
idealism  and  enthusiasm  for  good.  They 
do  fall  far  short  of  them  in  practical  works 
of  charity.  Teachers  may  look  for  the 
reason  in  their  own  conduct,  not  in  the 
slackness  of  their  pupils.  This  is  all  the 
more  unfortunate  in  view  of  the  ever-in- 
creasing need  of  Catholic  lay  workers 
among  poor  boys.  Fine  but  untrained 
boys,  with  good  religious  instincts,  are 


142      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

neglected  at  the  critical  period  of  their 
lives,  only  to  become  the  prey  of  Socialists 
arid  Anarchists. 

The  harvest  is  white,  but  too  large  for 
the  number  of  laborers.  The  remedy  for 
this  deficiency  is  not  far  to  seek.  Simple, 
definite  instructions  and  sympathetic  talks 
to  young  students,  a  rational  course  in  so- 
ciology for  older  boys,  would  accomplish 
much.  Senior  students  would  profit  too 
by  intercourse  with  social  workers;  by 
well-directed  participation  in  the  activi- 
ties of  the  Ozanam  Society ;  by  attendance 
at  meetings  in  which  social  needs  and  cor- 
rective ways  and  means  are  discussed;  by 
reading  the  literature  of  the  St.  Vincent  de 
Paul  Society  and  the  Eunomic  Club. 

All  this  can  be  brought  about  by  Cath- 
olic teachers.  They  can  plant  a  seed 
which  will  sprout  and  grow,  and  blossom 
and  bear  fruit  in  the  later  life  of  their  stu- 
dents. To  this  they  are  obliged.  They 
are  their  brother's  keeper.  In  the  end 
their  stewardship  will  be  scrutinized  and 
appraised.  And  Christ  has  said:  "De- 
part from  me,  .  .  .  for  I  was  hungry,  and 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING      143 

you  gave  me  not  to  eat :  I  was  thirsty,  and 
you  gave  me  not  to  drink :  I  was  a  stranger, 
and  you  took  me  not  in:  naked,  and  you 
covered  me  not:  sick,  and  in  prison,  and 
you  did  not  visit  me."  Truly,  a  terrible 
sanction  on  neglect  of  social  duties.  But 
who  neglects  these  more  than  the  teacher 
careless  of  his  obligations  in  this  regard? 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  BOY  AND  THE  SECULAR  LIFE 


of  affairs  are  at  present  vigorously 
debating  the  question  of  the  practical  value 
of  college  education  in  business.  Their 
opinions  are  various  and  often  directly  con- 
tradictory. The  self-made  man  sees  no  ad- 
vantage in  higher  education.  He  has  suc- 
ceeded without  it.  Therefore,  it  cannot 
be  of  any  use.  On  the  contrary,  likely  as 
not,  it  will  prove  a  hindrance  to  progress. 
It  converts  men  into  idealists,  makes  them 
unpractical,  and  thus  renders  them  unfit 
to  grapple  with  the  ever-changing  prob- 
lems of  these  strenuous  times.  These 
statements  are  generally  followed  by  an 
array  of  statistics  quoted  with  an  air  of 
supreme  confidence.  The  confidence,  how- 
ever, is  not  born  of  the  arguments.  They 
scarcely  call  for  analysis  or  refutation. 

144 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       145 

Even  the  blear-eyed  can  look  through  them 
without  great  effort.  Yet  since  it  is  al- 
ways interesting  to  observe  how  a  man 
hoists  himself  with  his  own  petard,  a  word 
of  retort  may  not  be  entirely  vain.  Money, 
influence,  dignity,  constitute  the  self-made 
man's  norm  of  success.  Be  it  so.  Noth- 
ing could  serve  our  purpose  better,  nor  his 
worse.  Computation  based  on  the  study 
of  fifteen  thousand  " successful"  careers 
shows  that  men  with  academic  training 
have  two  hundred  and  fifty  chances  of  suc- 
cess against  the  one  poor  chance  of  persons 
who  are  not  college-bred.  Even  though 
observation  be  confined  to  the  narrow  lim- 
its of  the  purely  industrial  and  commercial 
field,  yet  the  college  man  loses  nothing  in 
comparison  with  his  companions  who  have 
not  had  the  advantage  of  higher  education. 
One  in  every  six  of  the  sometime  students 
of  New  York  institutions  who  have  become 
eminent,  attained  their  success  in  business. 
In  this  sphere  the  college  man  has  forty 
chances  of  success  against  the  one  chance 
of  non-college  men. 

So  much  for  statistics  and  the  inferences 


146      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

drawn  from  them.  No  doubt  both  one  and 
the  other  are  partial,  and  to  some  extent 
misleading.  But  they  are  the  self-made 
man's  stock  in  trade.  They  are  his  weap- 
ons of  attack.  Under  compulsion,  they  be- 
come our  instruments  of  defence.  Condi- 
tions render  a  poor  boomerang  more  ef- 
fectual than  a  Mauser. 

But  apart  from  all  this,  it  is  clear  that 
college  training  by  its  very  nature  fits  man 
the  better  for  the  battle  of  life.  More- 
over, life  is  more  than  bread  and  meat. 
The  soul  and  its  gifts  count  for  something. 
Hence,  so  does  culture  of  the  spirit.  This 
is  obvious  enough  to  make  argument  un- 
necessary. We  could  wish,  however,  that 
the  fact  were  driven  into  the  hearts  of 
Catholics  so  hard  and  fast  that  they  would 
be  forced  to  pay  more  attention  to  col- 
legiate education.  Nineteen  per  cent,  of 
all  students  of  higher  education  in  the  en- 
tire United  States  are  found  in  the  Col- 
leges of  New  York,  and  yet  the  number  of 
Catholics  in  this  throng  is  relatively  small. 
Each  year  two  thousand  boys  are  gradu- 
ated from  the  parochial  schools  of  one  New 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       147 

York  diocese  alone,  and  of  these  likely 
chaps  only  a  very  small  proportion  enter 
high  schools.  Probably  the  dismissal  pic- 
ture is  equally  true  of  Catholic  youths  who 
attend  the  city  schools. 

The  consequences  are  not  pleasant  to 
contemplate.  In  the  main,  our  men  of  the 
next  generation  will  be  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water — distinctly  inferior  to 
those  about  them,  intellectually  and  in  all 
other  ways  save  morally.  Yet  an  unused 
remedy  lies  at  hand.  But,  as  we  said,  dis- 
cussion of  this  is  not  our  main  purpose. 
Bather  we  wish  to  give  attention  to  the  sec- 
ular careers  of  those  who  actually  frequent 
our  colleges. 

Many  of  these  boys  need  advice  and 
other  assistance  in  order  to  start  well  in 
life.  As  a  rule,  they  get  neither.  Through 
lack  of  interest  and  proper  organization 
the  alumni  societies  are  of  little  help.  In 
most  places  alumni  and  students  are  sep- 
arated by  a  gap  almost  as  broad  and  deep 
and  formidable  as  that  which  separated 
Dives  from  Father  Abraham.  There  is  a 
dinner  once  a  year,  at  which  graduates  are 


148       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

inducted  into  the  society.  They  come  into 
personal  contact  with  the  old  men  for  the 
first  time,  and  only  for  a  moment.  Ac- 
quaintance is  most  casual.  At  the  dinner 
the  president  of  the  society  announces  that 
a  committee  of  the  alumni  will  sit  in  the 
parlor  to  offer  advice  to  the  young  men. 
As  is  clear,  the  capacity  of  the  parlor  is 
overtaxed  by  the  number  of  youths  who 
are  anxious  to  consult  these  all  but  total 
strangers  about  a  profession.  Comment 
is  unnecessary. 

Teachers  are  often  of  as  little  help. 
Their  duties  and  manner  of  life  keep  them 
out  of  touch  with  doctors'  offices  and  law 
courts  and  markets.  They  have,  then,  no 
information  to  give.  In  view  of  this,  per- 
haps they  may  find  a  few  items  helpful  and 
even  interesting.  It  is  significant  of  the 
condition  of  professions  like  law  and  medi- 
cine that  the  drift  of  graduates  is  almost 
altogether  away  from  them.  A  century 
ago  law  attracted  more  men  than  any  other 
profession  save  the  ministry.  Times  have 
changed  and  choice  of  professions  has 
changed  with  them.  A  recently  compiled 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       149 

list  of  graduates  of  twenty-seven  repre- 
sentative and  widely  distributed  colleges 
reveals  the  fact  that  teaching  claims 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  younger  grad- 
uates, business  twenty  per  cent.,  law  fif- 
teen per  cent,  and  medicine  six  per  cent. 
This  drift  is  most  natural.  Law  and  medi- 
cine have  fallen  in  popular  estimation. 
Moreover,  despite  the  decrease  in  the  num- 
ber of  educated  men  who  follow  them,  they 
are  both  overcrowded.  Hordes  of  in- 
ferior, untrained,  unscrupulous  youths 
have  pushed  themselves  into  these  profes- 
sions, with  sad  effect  on  the  morale  of  both. 
This  is  especially  true  of  law.  Our  large 
cities  are  stocked  with  lawyers  who  live  by 
their  wits,  not  unfrequently  off  widows  or 
other  unsuspecting  women.  Criminal  law 
is  becoming  positively  odious.  Self-re- 
specting men,  who  must  earn  their  bread 
and  butter,  had  better  think  twice  before 
casting  in  their  lot  with  it.  Then  too,  be- 
sides the  unworthy  lawyers,  there  are  oth- 
ers, honest  fellows,  whose  fees  from  draw- 
ing wills  and  collecting  evidence  scarcely 
equal  the  salary  of  well-paid  clerks.  In 


150      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

one  city  of  less  than  two  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants  there  is  an  over-supply  of  one 
thousand  five  hundred  lawyers. 

Of  course,  there  is  always  room  for  a 
man  of  talent,  energy  and  character.  But 
not  every  college  man  is  such.  Some  lack 
one  or  other  quality.  Others  lack  all 
three.  Advisers  should  take  this  into  con- 
sideration. Moreover,  they  should  give 
thought  to  the  particular  branch  of  law  for 
which  a  boy  is  best  fitted.  A  youth  with 
absolutely  no  scientific  instinct  is  not  apt 
to  meet  with  success  at  patent  law.  He 
may  succeed,  however,  by  making  a  spe- 
cialty of  real  estate.  This  offers  a  double 
chance  for  an  honest  competence;  one 
through  the  practice  entailed,  the  other  by 
throwing  open  legitimate  avenues  of  spec- 
ulation closed  to  many  who  are  unaware  of 
the  opportunities. 

Bright  young  lawyers  often  fail  to  make 
progress  because  they  are  not  put  suffi- 
ciently upon  their  mettle.  They  should  en- 
ter new  and  uncrowded  fields  as  strangers 
determined  to  succeed.  The  writer  has  in 
mind  seven  young  men  who  owe  their  sue- 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       151 

cess  more  to  the  fortunate  choice  of  place 
than  to  talent.  Acting  under  advice,  they 
set  themselves  down  in  growing  western 
cities  with  the  happiest  results. 

Applied  science  offers  numerous  oppor- 
tunities for  college  men.  Electrical  sys- 
tems of  various  kinds  must  be  managed, 
bridges  must  be  built,  sewage  disposed  of, 
roads  constructed,  streets  opened  and 
graded,  and  so  forth.  Hence  there  is  con- 
stant demand  for  electrical,  sewage,  me- 
chanical and  civil  engineers.  Some  find 
employment  in  the  engineering  depart- 
ments of  our  cities,  others  get  places  on  the 
staffs  of  great  companies.  Then  too, 
wholesale  groceries,  sugar  refineries,  mills 
and  the  chemical  departments  of  city  hos- 
pitals all  need  chemists.  And  so  on 
through  a  long  list  of  opportunities  af- 
forded by  applied  science.  "Why  not  turn 
the  attention  of  our  boys  this  way?  There 
is  room  for  the  college  graduate.  Only 
three  per  cent,  of  this  generation  of  gradu- 
ates take  up  engineering. 

Despite  pessimistic  reports,  there  are 
also  chances  in  business  for  the  right  kind 


152       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

of  a  boy.  The  great  telephone  companies 
employ  numbers  of  youths  in  positions 
which  are  entirely  honorable  and  lucrative 
for  beginners.  Each  year  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  seeks  college  men  for  work 
in  Asia.  Salaries  are  high,  and  chances 
of  advancement  are  fair.  Other  large 
companies  are  only  too  glad  to  place  col- 
lege men  amongst  their  employes.  Busi- 
ness is  expanding  enormously,  especially 
along  certain  lines,  and  needs  trained  in- 
tellects more  than  ever.  For  instance, 
some  fifteen  years  ago  a  motor  vehicle  was 
a  novel  sight  in  the  United  States.  Now 
there  are  one  million  such  vehicles  in  use. 
The  factories  turned  out  $400,000,000 
worth  of  automobiles  of  various  kinds  dur- 
ing the  year  1913.  The  promises  for  1914 
are  equally  fair.  According  to  one  esti- 
mate 600,000  cars  will  be  manufactured. 
There  is  almost  as  much  activity  in  other 
branches  of  business.  The  real  estate 
market  and  contracting,  for  example,  are 
continually  assuming  larger  proportions. 
College  men  should  share  in  this  general 
prosperity.  To  do  so,  however,  they 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       153 

should  be  willing  to  begin  humbly  and 
climb  high  by  merit.  This  is  the  only  sen- 
sible process.  Meteoric  careers  are  apt 
to  be  brief.  The  right  precedent  has  been 
set  by  men  like  the  late  manager  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad,  who,  after  com- 
pleting his  technical  education,  began  life 
as  a  rodman.  Educated  youths  might 
study  such  a  career  with  profit. 

Many  young  men  are  deterred  from  en- 
tering business  by  fear  of  a  penniless  old 
age.  They  dread  the  prospect  of  giving 
their  best  years  to  a  company  which  will 
throw  them  aside  after  their  usefulness 
begins  to  diminish.  This  objection,  once 
very  real,  is  gradually  losing  its  force.  A 
good  number  of  reputable  companies  have 
already  established  generous  pension 
funds.  Others  are  contemplating  a  like 
step.  Thus  the  United  States  Steel  Cor- 
poration, the  American  Telephone  Co.,  the 
Armour  Co.,  the  Morris  Co.,  the  Westing- 
house  Air-Brake  Co.,  the  Wells  Fargo  Co., 
the  Adams  Express  Co.,  the  Gorham  Man- 
ufacturing Co.,  the  American  Sugar  Re- 
fining Co.,  and  the  International  Harvester 


154       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

Co.  all  have  funds.  Some  of  these  funds 
are  really  huge,  and  the  conditions  under 
which  employes  may  profit  by  them  are  not 
hard. 

Besides  all  the  ways  enumerated,  there 
are  many  other  honorable  means  of  liveli- 
hood. Most  of  them  are  so  well  known 
that  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  them. 
Teaching,  the  army  and  navy,  government 
service  at  home  and  in  the  colonies,  all  af- 
ford dignified,  though  not  enormously 
lucrative  ways  of  making  a  living. 

The  whole  crux  of  this  question  is  not  so 
much  lack  of  opportunities  as  want  of  men 
charitable  enough  to  take  an  interest  in 
struggling  boys.  Alumni  societies  can 
easily  remedy  this.  Let  them  be'  assured 
that  it  is  a  great  charity  both  to  assist 
young  graduates  by  advice  and  to  exert 
influence  that  the  boys  may  begin  their  ca- 
reers auspiciously.  Bread  cast  upon  the 
water  is  returned  twofold. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  BOY  AND  THE  PRIESTHOOD 

HAPPINESS  and  unhappiness,  success 
and  failure,  salvation  and  damnation,  are 
so  intimately  connected  with  the  choice  of 
a  state  of  life,  that  all  who  are  interested 
in  boys  should  give  the  subject  serious  con- 
sideration. Boys  must  face  the  future. 
They  must  choose  a  vocation.  A  happy 
choice  is  an  earnest  of  a  happy,  useful 
life.  An  unhappy  choice  is  the  prelude 
of  an  unhappy,  useless  life. 

Though  this  is  universally  true,  yet  it 
has  special  reference  to  the  priesthood. 
The  unworthy  priest  is  at  once  the  most 
pitiable  and  wretched  of  men.  The  giant 
of  the  forest,  towering  high  above  its  fel- 
lows in  the  full  vigor  of  a  more  bounteous 
life,  is  suddenly  struck  by  a  ruthless  bolt, 
and  thereafter  stands  among  its  kindred 

155 


156      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

a  forlorn,  withered  thing,  fit  only  for  a 
base  use  or  the  destroying  fire.  Its  for- 
mer preeminence  but  makes  its  present  low 
estate  the  more  noticeable  and  pathetic. 
Thus  it  is  with  the  priest  shattered  by  the 
bolt  of  sin.  His  face  stamped  with  an  in- 
delible, indescribable  seal  not  of  earth,  he 
moves  amongst  his  fellows,  an  uncanny 
creature  whose  very  presence  fills  godly 
hearts  with  pity  and  sorrow,  and  causes 
godly  lips  to  move  instinctively  in  prayer. 
The  salt  of  the  earth  has  lost  its  savor,  and 
it  is  fit  for  naught  save  to  be  cast  out  and 
to  be  trodden  on  by  men.  The  man's  hopes 
and  life  are  blasted.  So  too  are  the  hopes 
and  lives  of  many  who  depend  on  him  for 
the  bread  of  the  word  and  the  water  that 
springs  unto  eternal  life.  If  the  shep- 
herding be  faithless,  the  flock  will  be 
decimated.  The  ravening  wolf  is  never 
far  distant,  and  noxious  weeds  and  pol- 
luted fountains  abound  on  every  side. 

There  is  call,  then,  for  supremest  care  in 
the  choice  of  candidates  for  the  priest- 
hood. And  since  teachers  in  Catholic 
schools  are  amongst  the  agents  whom  God 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       157 

deigns  to  use  for  the  recruiting  of  the 
ranks  of  His  ministry,  it  were  well  for  them 
to  take  thought  on  their  duty  and  oppor- 
tunities in  this  regard.  Above  all,  the 
teacher  should  convince  himself  that  he 
has  an  obligation  in  this  matter.  That 
this  is  the  case  is  too  obvious  to  demand 
discussion.  Moreover,  apart  from  any 
consideration  of  duty,  he  were  a  queer  man 
indeed  who  did  not  experience  great  joy  in 
sending  youths  forth  to  an  anointing 
whereby  they  become  other  Christs,  mes- 
sengers of  glad  tidings,  angels  of  peace  and 
mercy,  priests  of  prayer  and  sacrifice, 
guardians  of  a  sublime  office,  who  perpet- 
uate the  Eedeemer  and  His  work  on  earth. 
The  true  teacher's  soul  is  filled  with  joy- 
ous earnestness  for  this  cause.  Prudence 
alone  sets  bounds  to  his  zeal.  His  activ- 
ity is  constant,  but  yet  tactful  by  reason  of 
guidance  from  sound  principles.  These 
principles  are  plain  and  easy  of  compre- 
hension. 

First  of  all,  the  priesthood  is  a  free  gift 
of  God  to  man.  No  one  has  a  right  to  it. 
Station,  wealth,  learning,  influence,  sane- 


158       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

tity, — nothing  save  the  call  constitutes  a 
claim  to  it.  Ordinarily,  this  call  is  vouch- 
safed to  persons  who  possess  certain  well- 
defined  gifts,  natural  and  supernatural. 
The  doctors  of  the  Church  are  in  substan- 
tial agreement  on  this  point.  In  fact,  the 
trivial  divergences  of  opinion  which  are 
sometimes  noted  are  verbal  rather  than 
real.  St.  Alphonsus  groups  these  gifts 
under  three  categories,  St.  Thomas  under 
two.  But  the  two  categories  of  the  latter 
include  the  three  of  the  former.  And  ulti- 
mately both  doctors  make  it  clear  that 
learning,  sanctity  and  an  upright  intention 
are  requisite  in  candidates  for  the  priest- 
hood. 

But  to  what  extent  should  these  charac- 
teristics exist  in  boys  who  contemplate  the 
priestly  life?  For  surely,  as  much  cannot 
be  expected  of  them  as  of  seminarians  who 
are  about  to  receive  major  orders.  Quite 
true.  And  it  is  just  here  that  teachers 
make  mistakes.  They  refuse  encourage- 
ment to  those  who  do  not  measure  up  to 
the  very  highest  standards.  They  err  in 
expecting  too  much  of  striplings.  Heroic 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING      159 

virtue  and  great  knowledge  are  slow 
growths.  An  Aloysius  seldom  graces  the 
world  by  his  presence,  and  Aquins  do  not 
strut  about  in  knickerbockers.  Something 
should  be  left  to  the  seminaries  and 
scholasticates.  It  is  theirs  to  impart 
priestly  virtues  and  priestly  knowledge. 
Ordinary  Christian  virtues,  such  as  purity, 
the  habit  of  prayer,  patience  and  docility, 
coupled  with  mediocrity  in  studies,  should 
be  sufficient  to  commend  a  boy  to  the  zeal- 
ous attention  of  his  master.  Most  of  these 
virtues  and  their  opposite  vices  call  for  no 
discussion.  They  can  be  passed  over  in 
silence  without  fear  that  their  nature  or 
importance  will  be  misunderstood. 

This  is  not  true,  however,  of  other  quali- 
ties of  soul.  To  our  mind  there  are  traits 
of  character  often  overlooked,  which  jus- 
tify a  teacher  in  refusing  to  promote  a 
boy's  ambition  for  the  priesthood. 
Amongst  these  are  ingrained  selfishness, 
habitual  untruthfulness  which  often  ap- 
pears instinctive  rather  than  rational,  a 
sad  lack  of  judgment,  and  a  grotesque, 
clownish  instability.  In  defects  such  as 


160       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

these,  the  child  is  invariably  father  to  the 
man.  And  when  the  man  is  a  priest,  the 
result  is  shameful  and  harrowing.  The 
Church  blushes  at  her  minister's  defects 
and  weeps  in  impotency  over  the  harm 
wrought  by  them. 

Yet  these  faults  show  themselves  incor- 
rigible early  in  life.  They  are  woven  into 
the  warp  and  woof  of  the  soul  and  cannot 
be  torn  out.  There  are  boys  so  selfish  that 
sacrifice  or  even  consideration  for  others 
seems  quite  incomprehensible  to  them. 
Their  thoughts  and  words  and  deeds  are 
for  self  and  self's  interests.  Their  priest- 
hood will  be  for  self  and  self's  interests. 
Souls  will  be  of  minor  importance. 

What  can  be  expected  of  the  young  man 
whose  heart  is  filled  with  dark  angles? 
Gratuitous  lies  come  to  his  lips  as  natu- 
rally as  warts  to  a  toad's  back.  He  acts 
as  if  he  had  a  mission  to  deceive  as  many 
as  possible  before  death  overtakes  him. 
Nothing  save  a  grace  which  would  all  but 
deprive  him  of  his  liberty  will  cure  him  of 
this.  Such  a  grace  is  apparently  rare. 

And  the  bungler.    He  goes  bungling  to 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       161 

the  grave.  He  is  as  tactless  and  impru- 
dent at  sixty  as  he  was  at  twenty.  His 
taste  is  execrable.  His  judgment  is 
warped.  He  cannot  learn  by  mistakes. 
He  burns  his  hands  at  the  same  fire,  in  the 
same  way,  twice  a  month.  Wholesome  ad- 
vice and  honest  criticism  convince  him  that 
his  work  is  superlatively  good;  otherwise 
it  would  not  attract  notice.  He  is  right 
and  all  others  are  wrong.  The  priesthood 
will  lose  more  than  it  will  gain  from  such 
a  man.  The  office  of  confessor,  for  in- 
stance, is  too  sacred  and  responsible  for 
his  kind.  And  there  is  no  remedy.  The 
defect  is  radical,  a  kink  in  the  intellect 
which  cannot  be  ironed  out. 

Nor  are  we  more  hopeful  of  the  boy  who 
veers  with  every  breeze,  dances  with  every 
piping  and  laments  with  every  mourning. 
He  is  a  hale-fellow-well-met.  He  adapts 
himself  to  moods  and  opinions  and  actions 
and  atmospheres  readily  and  recklessly, 
with  no  apparent  concern.  As  he  grows 
into  manhood  he  cultivates  the  graces  of 
conversation,  learns  to  sing  a  bit,  and  be- 
hold !  develops  an  apostolic  vocation.  Let 


162      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

the  family  fireside  be  his  missionary  field. 
A  grandfather's  chair  will  make  a  more 
excellent  pulpit  for  him. 

So  much  for  the  qualities  undesirable  in 
those  who  look  forward  to  the  clerical 
state.  But  what  is  the  teacher's  duty  in 
so  important  an  affair?  To  our  mind  his 
work  is  both  creative  and  directive. 

Many  theologians  hold  that  the  priestly 
vocation  formally  consists  in  a  special  in- 
ternal charisma,  an  extraordinary  grace 
by  which  God  sets  a  man  aside  for  the 
priestly  life.  Over  and  above  virtue, 
learning  and  a  pure  intention,  they  demand 
this  special  grace  which  destines  a  man 
for  the  office.  This  opinion  is  entitled  to 
the  highest  respect.  No  doubt  God  often 
calls  persons  in  the  aforesaid  way.  Little 
children  on  whom  no  external  influence  has 
been  brought  to  bear,  evince  an  altogether 
supernatural  desire  for  the  holy  state. 
And  this  desire  grows  with  years,  despite 
the  most  untoward  conditions.  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  breathing  in  a  special  way  over 
the  face  of  the  soul.  Who  dares  gainsay 
it?  But  is  this  always  the  case?  We  do 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       163 

not  think  so.  In  fact  there  is  evidence  to 
the  contrary.  Moreover,  a  recent  decision 
of  a  special  commission  of  Cardinals  ap- 
pointed by  His  Holiness  to  settle  a  con- 
troversy bearing  on  this  very  topic,  ex- 
pressly says  "Conditionem,  quae  ex  parte 
ordinandi  debet  attendi,  quaeque  vocatio 
sacerdotalis  appellatur,  nequaquam  consis- 
tere,  saltern  necessario  et  de  lege  ordina- 
ria,  in  interna  quadam  adspiratione  subjec- 
ti,  sen  incitamentis  Spiritus  Sancti,  ad  sa- 
cerdotium  ineundum.  Sed  e  contra,  nihil 
plus  in  ordinando,  ut  rite  vocetur  ab  epis- 
copo,  requiri  quam  rectam  intentionem 
simul  cum  idoneitate  in  iis  gratiae  et  na- 
turae dotibus  reposita,  et  per  earn  vitae 
probitatem  ac  doctrinae  sufficientiam  com- 
probata,  quae  spem  fundatam  facient  fore 
ut  sacerdotii  munera  recte  obire  ejus- 
demque  obligationes  sancte  servare  queat: 
esse  egregie  laudandam."  At  its  very 
mildest,  this  denies  that  a  vocation  to  the 
priesthood  necessarily  or  even  ordinarily 
supposes  a  special  extraordinary  charisma. 
Virtue  and  ability  there  must  be,  but  no 
special  extraordinary  internal  grace 


164      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

prompting  a  man  to  assume  the  priestly 
office  and  dignity.  A  vocation,  then,  can  be 
acquired.  By  God's  help  a  man  can  grow 
fit  for  the  call.  He  can  get  the  requisite 
knowledge  and  virtue.  He  can  acquire  the 
generosity  and  strength  of  will  necessary 
for  the  office  and  life.  He  can  even  con- 
ceive a  very  active,  strong,  loving  desire 
for  both,  much  in  the  same  way  that  he  can 
conceive  any  other  supernatural  desire. 

Hence,  as  we  have  said,  a  teacher's  work 
can  be  both  creative  and  directive.  Cre- 
ative, in  that  by  his  life  and  labors  he  can 
become  an  instrument  in  God's  hands  both 
for  adorning  a  boy's  soul  with  the  req- 
uisite intellectual  and  moral  gifts  and  for 
inspiring  him  with  the  high  ambition  of 
consecrating  his  life  to  heaven.  Directive, 
in  that  by  advice  and  encouragement  he  can 
guide  the  lad  safely  to  the  seminary  or 
scholasticate.  Prudence  is  required  for 
all  this.  No  undue  influence  should  be  ex- 
ercised. There  should  be  no  cajoling,  no 
nagging.  Both  are  unjust  intrusions  on 
a  boy's  liberty.  The  result  will  be  either 
scorn  on  the  lad's  part,  or  an  imaginary 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       165 

desire  for  better  things,  which  will  disap- 
pear under  the  first  stiff  trial. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  teacher  should 
do  his  best  to  inspire  the  boys  with  holy 
ambition.  He  should  light  in  their  hearts 
the  fire  of  zeal  for  great  causes  and  keep 
it  all  aglow.  This  is  not  only  legitimate. 
It  is  a  duty.  For  all  men  should  realize 
that  God  expects  them  to  go  down  to  the 
grave  leaving  the  world  better  and  sweeter 
for  their  presence.  Boyhood,  not  the 
evening  of  life,  is  the  proper  time  for  such 
a  realization.  And  the  master  is  an  agent 
for  its  consummation.  This  may  be  ac- 
complished by  word,  by  an  apt  selection 
of  books  for  the  boys '  library,  and,  best  of 
all,  by  example.  Teachers  live  in  an  at- 
mosphere of  their  own  creation.  This  at- 
mosphere is  a  reflex  of  the  condition  of 
their  souls.  By  it  boys  are  influenced  for 
good  or  evil.  They  feel  its  effects,  and 
judge  from  them  the  worth  of  the  cause 
to  which  we  have  consecrated  our  lives. 
They  cannot  analyze,  they  cannot  prove, 
but  they  can  and  do  feel.  They  feel  our 
frivolity,  our  neglect,  our  petty  cares,  our 


166      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

childish  dissatisfaction,  our  moroseness. 
That  which  is  in  the  soul  is  radiated  by  the 
soul  and  affects  others  according  to  its  na- 
ture. Good  example,  then,  is  a  prime  fac- 
tor in  this  great  apostolate.  The  master's 
self-sacrifice,  singleness  of  purpose,  pa- 
tience, in  short,  his  Christian  heroism  will 
turn  the  souls  of  his  pupils  to  high  ideals 
and  holy  aspirations.  The  priesthood  is 
rather  a  natural  sequence. 

But  holy  desires  and  aspirations  are  not 
always  lasting.  In  fact  they  are  so  easily 
lost  that  their  preservation  demands  con- 
stant care  and  watchfulness.  The  teacher 
should  exercise  both  in  an  easy,  natural 
way.  In  boys,  worldliness  and  temptation 
to  sin  make  their  first  and  strongest  ap- 
peal to  the  imagination.  Companions, 
books  and  theatres  often  combine  to  lead 
this  faculty  captive.  Once  caught,  the 
havoc  is  great.  Prayer  and  attendance  on 
the  sacraments  help  to  offset  the  evil  in- 
fluence of  these  three.  So  too  do  many 
natural  agents,  vigorous  play  for  instance, 
attractive  books  of  travel,  biography,  his- 
tory and  fiction.  And  every  teacher  knows 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       167 

how  to  induce  boys  to  make  use  of  all  these 
instruments  of  profit. 

Other  directive  agencies  will  be  sug- 
gested by  circumstances  of  time,  place  and 
persons.  The  teacher  should  use  all  to 
further  so  good  a  cause.  And  in  the  end 
his  cup  of  joy  will  be  well-nigh  filled.  An- 
other of  his  boys  will  go  forth  to  the  su- 
pernal vocation  in  Christ  Jesus,  a  shep- 
herd of  the  lambs  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  BOY  AND  THE  RELIGIOUS  LIFE 

TEACHERS  are  often  at  a  loss  to  know 
how  to  deal  with  boys  who  apply  to  them 
for  advice  concerning  a  vocation  to  the 
religious  life.  True  the  office  of  counsel- 
lor in  such  an  affair  pertains  primarily 
to  the  confessor.  However  the  master,  es- 
pecially if  he  be  a  priest,  cannot  always 
refuse  assistance  to  an  earnest  enquirer. 
For  this  reason  it  is  well  for  each  teacher 
to  have  in  mind  some  simple  principles  to 
which  he  can  call  for  guidance  in  time  of 
need. 

Vocations  to  the  religious  life,  like  vo- 
cations to  the  priesthood,  are  of  two  kinds, 
internal  and  external.  The  former,  which 
is  by  far  the  less  common  of  the  two,  is 
a  sign  of  God's  special  predilection  for  a 
soul.  It  consists  of  an  extraordinary  in- 

168 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING      169 

terior  grace  by  which  a  person  is  urged 
one  way  or  other,  to  choose  the  better  part. 
Sometimes  this  urging  is  exercised  through 
the  medium  of  great  sensible  devotion, 
which  would  find  an  outlet  for  itself  in  the 
mode  of  life  and  work  of  a  particular  order 
or  congregation.  In  such  cases  signs  of 
the  vocation  are  so  marked  as  to  be  quite 
unmistakable.  The  boy  involved  contem- 
plates with  joy  the  sacrifices  demanded. 
Everything  seems  easy  and  pleasant  to 
him.  He  has  looked  forward  for  years  to 
the  consummation  of  his  desire.  He  is  im- 
patient to  begin  the  life.  His  interests  are 
altogether  centred  in  it.  Each  delay  in 
the  execution  of  his  cherished  wish  causes 
disappointment  and  even,  keen  regret. 
The  finger  of  God  is  surely  here.  The  vo- 
cation is  clear.  Teachers  need  have  no 
misgivings  about  any  encouragement 
which  they  may  choose  to  give  in  such  a 
contingency. 

But  there  are  times  when  special  voca- 
tions are  manifested  in  an  entirely  differ- 
ent way.  Often  there  is  a  strong  and  al- 
most overpowering  sensible  repugnance  to 


170      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

the  manner  of  life  indicated  by  the  call. 
The  very  thought  of  a  surrender  of  the 
will  by  a  vow  puts  the  soul  in  a  state  of 
darkness  and  turmoil  and  irrational  re- 
sistance as  if  to  some  hostile,  invisible 
force.  Resolutions  against  surrender  are 
frequent  and  forceful.  Yet  beneath  all 
this  there  is  a  conviction  that  duty,  hard, 
dry  and  repulsive,  requires  the  much- 
feared  sacrifice.  No  amount  of  quiet  rea- 
soning lessens  this  conviction  in  any  way. 
Moreover  it  is  most  importunate.  Like 
Banquo's  Ghost,  it  will  not  down.  It  is 
present  to  the  mind  the  last  moment  at 
night  and  the  first  instant  of  the  morning. 
It  appears  and  reappears  at  frequent  in- 
tervals during  the  day,  even  in  the  midst 
of  distraction  and  gaiety.  And  its  effect 
is  always  the  same,  disgust  and  resistance. 
Finally  a  sense  of  duty,  unaided  in  any 
way  by  love,  becomes  too  strong  for  op- 
position. The  soul  surrenders  to  God, 
despite  pain  and  disgust,  and  travail  that 
are  indescribable.  There  has  been  a  real 
internal  vocation  from  the  beginning,  the 
stronger  and  the  better  by  reason  of  the 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING      171 

struggle  which  it  occasioned.  Those  who 
are  called  upon  for  counsel  in  cases  of  this 
kind  should  act  slowly  and  cautiously.  A 
little  direction  given  now  and  then  is  far 
better  than  a  hasty  decision  which  sends 
a  worried  and  disgusted  chap  off  to  a 
novitiate  half  against  his  will.  He  is  in 
no  mood  to  accept  rigorous  principles  and 
strict  discipline.  And  the  outcome  may  be 
false  appraisement  on  the  part  of  supe- 
riors and  a  hasty  exit  on  the  part  of  the  can- 
didate. Had  the  young  man  been  allowed 
to  fight  his  own  battle  and  come  to  a  more 
independent  conclusion,  the  result  would 
have  been  different.  His  convictions  would 
have  been  on  the  side  of  duty  and,  though 
his  soul  might  have  been  sad,  yet  it  would 
not  have  been  truculent.  It  had  scored  a 
victory  and  thereby  made  itself  ready  for 
new  and  more  difficult  conquests. 

This  vocation  of  which  we  have  been 
speaking,  is  uncommon  enough.  But 
there  is  a  second  kind, — the  external, — 
which  is  far  more  common  than  is  generally 
supposed.  In  nature  it  is  quite  different 
from  the  internal  call.  It  is  not  a  special, 


172      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

interior  grace.  The  call  comes  entirely 
from  without,  sometimes  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  scripture,  sometimes 
through  a  sermon  or  an  accident  or  sorrow 
or  such  like  agencies.  Though  this  call 
may  be  more  insistent  in  some  cases  than 
in  others,  yet  it  is  universal.  It  is  an  in- 
vitation extended  to  all  to  follow  on  close 
after  our  Lord.  It  is  a  privilege  by  which 
men  are  allowed  to  come  nigh  to  Christ 
and  live  in  His  immediate  presence.  "If 
thou  wilt  be  perfect  go  sell  what  thou  hast 
and  give  to  the  poor  and  thou  shalt  have 
treasure  in  Heaven  and  come  follow  me." 
The  lives  of  the  saints  furnish  many  strik- 
ing examples  of  this  vocation.  Thus  was 
Ignatius  called  and  Xavier  and  Francis 
Borgia  and  a  host  of  others. 

All  this  appears  so  simple  and  natural, 
that  it  may  be  necessary  to  insist  that  even 
this  kind  of  call  demands  definite  prerequi- 
sites. Though  universal,  it  is  conditional. 
It  is  an  invitation.  And  the  acceptance  of 
an  invitation  depends  largely  on  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  the  recipient  finds 
himself.  An  evening  reception  is  about  to 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       173 

be  given  to  a  distinguished  person.  Invi- 
tations are  sent  broadcast.  The  host 
would  be  delighted  to  welcome  to  his  home 
all  who  have  been  bidden  to  attend  the  func- 
tion. Greetings  will  be  cordial,  hospi- 
tality lavish.  Not  all  however  will  attend. 
Some  are  unwilling  to  submit  to  the  eti- 
quette demanded  by  the  occasion.  They 
refuse  to  accept  the  conditions  imposed  by 
the  very  nature  of  the  reception.  Others 
again  are  delicate  and  fear  to  expose  them- 
selves to  the  night  air.  They  remain  at 
home.  In  short  all  receive  a  perfectly 
genuine  and  sincere  invitation.  Many 
however  either  do  not  or  cannot  accept  it, 
on  account  of  purely  subjective  circum- 
stances. Mutatis  mutandis,  this  applies  to 
the  general  invitation  by  which  our  Lord 
bids  men  enter  upon  the  way  of  the  higher 
life.  "A  certain  man  made  a  great  sup- 
per, and  invited  many.  And  he  sent  his 
servant  at  the  hour  of  the  supper  to  say  to 
them  that  were  invited,  that  they  should 
come,  for  now  all  things  are  ready.  And 
they  began  all  at  once  to  make  excuse.  The 
first  said  to  him :  I  have  bought  a  farm  and 


174      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

I  must  needs  go  out  and  see  it :  I  pray  thee, 
hold  me  excused.  And  another  said:  I 
have  bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  go  to 
try  them;  I  pray  thee,  hold  me  excused. 
And  another  said:  I  have  married  a  wife, 
and  therefore  I  cannot  come. ' ' — Herein  is  a 
type  both  of  the  call  and  the  difficulties 
which  men  experience  concerning  it.  This 
vocation  then  presupposes  certain  condi- 
tions. These  can  be  summed  in  one  word, 
fitness.  Now  fitness  supposes  the  presence 
of  certain  intellectual  and  moral  qualities 
and  the  absence  of  all  obligations  inconsis- 
tent with  the  religious  state.  As  is  clear, 
the  aforesaid  qualities  may  vary  greatly. 
For  instance,  not  all  Orders  and  Congre- 
gations require  the  same  ability  in  candi- 
dates. Some  demand  intellectual  powers 
well  above  the  ordinary;  others  are  quite 
content  with  mediocre  talents.  Then  too, 
minor  moral  traits  which  may  prove  an  ob- 
stacle to  happiness  in  one  Order  may  not 
be  a  hindrance  to  success  and  contentment 
in  another.  This  is  most  natural.  The 
specific  aim  and  work  of  various  institutes 
differ  widely.  The  aim  of  one  requires 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING       175 

perpetual  study:  the  work  of  another  ne- 
cessitates travel,  freedom,  a  large  measure 
of  self  reliance  and  individuality.  The 
scope  of  a  third  is  inconsistent  with  all 
these.  Its  work  which  may  be  of  a  simple 
kind,  is  carried  on  almost  exclusively 
within  an  enclosure,  under  constant  super- 
vision and  stimulus.  Just  as  aim  and  work 
vary  so  too  do  rules.  The  rules  reflect  the 
spirit.  The  spirit  is  expressed  in  the  work 
and  the  manner  in  which  the  work  is  ac- 
complished. Thus  the  rules  of  one  Insti- 
tute are  extremely  strict  in  regard  to  pov- 
erty, those  of  another,  in  respect  to  obedi- 
ence. This  order  accomplishes  its  end  by 
moving  en  masse,  individual  action  sub- 
ordinated to  the  action  of  the  whole  body : 
that  congregation  insists  on  individuality 
and  self  assertion.  The  rules  reflect  all 
this.  As  a  consequence,  the  qualities  re- 
quired in  candidates  for  different  Orders 
or  Congregations  vary  in  accidentals 
at  least.  The  boy  who  could  not  abide 
a  Trappist's  life  might  become  an 
excellent  Dominican  or  Franciscan.  And 
on  the  other  hand,  a  lad  who  would  make  a 


176      TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

poor  Dominican  or  Franciscan  might  find 
a  fit  place  amongst  the  Trappists.  In  other 
words,  failure  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
one  institute  does  not  imply  unfitness  for 
all  modes  of  the  religious  life.  Teachers 
should  bear  all  this  in  mind  and  direct  the 
boy  with  great  singleness  of  purpose  in  a 
way  that  will  subserve  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  boy's  greater  good.  For  after  all 
Christ  and  His  glory  is  our  aim;  not  the 
aggrandizement  of  any  particular  body  of 
men.  We  should  rejoice  exceedingly  to  be 
able  to  direct  suitable  candidates  to  any  ap- 
proved Order  or  Congregation  which  is 
working  well  in  God's  vineyard.  This  is 
especially  true  of  those  holy,  venerable  or- 
ders which  have  adorned  the  church  by 
sanctity  and  learning  and  profited  the 
world  beyond  measure  by  fruitful  labors. 
True  zeal  is  not  exclusive.  Neither  is  it 
blind.  It  should  therefore  be  regulated  by 
prudence.  The  teacher's  manner  and 
method  should  all  be  above  reproach. 
There  is  scarcely  need  of  any  delay  on  this 
last  topic.  The  words  written  about  it  in 
"The  Boy  and  the  Priesthood"  are  quite 


TEACHER  AND  TEACHING      177 

apropos  in  respect  to  the  religious  life ;  and 
the  qualities  which  are  there  set  down  as 
necessary  for  candidature  for  the  priest- 
hood are  in  the  main  necessary  for  admis- 
sion into  an  order  whose  members  become 
priests  or  teachers. 

Before  closing  however  it  might  be  well 
to  say  a  word  or  two  on  the  obligation  of 
hearkening  to  the  call  and  taking  upon 
one's  self  the  yoke  which  the  Lord  holds 
ready.  Is  there  any  obligation  of  obeying 
the  call  to  the  religious  life?  Some  theo- 
logians assert  that  there  is  a  grave  obliga- 
tion of  following  the  special  vocation.  In 
other  words  they  teach  that  a  person  can- 
not repudiate  the  interior,  extraordinary 
grace  which  constitutes  the  special  voca- 
tion without  serious  sin  and  grave  danger 
to  eternal  salvation.  This  doctrine  ap- 
pears too  rigorous.  Proof  of  serious  sin 
is  lacking  and  though  acceptance  of  the  in- 
vitation may  render  salvation  relatively 
easy,  yet  it  is  not  at  all  clear  that  rejection 
of  the  call  entails  grave  danger  to  eternal 
happiness.  True,  both  sin  and  danger  of 
damnation  may  be  incurred  in  special  cases, 


178       TEACHER  AND  TEACHING 

for  special  reasons.  An  instance  in  point 
is  found  in  the  life  of  Blessed  Margaret 
Mary.  But  such  cases  are  exceptional  and 
cannot  be  covered  by  a  general  law  or  state- 
ment. 

If  the  vocation  is  of  the  second  kind,  ex- 
ternal and  universal,  there  is  no  danger  of 
sin  in  refusing  to  accept  it.  The  call  is  an 
invitation,  a  privilege  of  such  a  nature  that 
man  is  not  obliged  to  make  use  of  it.  Of 
course  no  one  attempts  to  deny  that  in  both 
cases  refusal  means  loss  of  opportunities 
for  great  good.  But  the  performance  of 
this  good  is  rather  a  matter  of  generosity 
than  of  strict  obligation. 


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